CornellFSA : PARTIAL LIST OF 2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
CornellFSA is gaining impressive momentum. A year of hard work is now strongly paying off. The leading national non-profit orgs (ACTA, FIRE, Heterodox Academy, the Stanford Classical Liberal Studies Program, Speech First, Braver Angels Student Discourse, the US Congress, and various others) now see CornellFSA as a leader in the emerging nationwide university reform movement. CornellFSA has already seen important results. The generous past contributions of time and money have helped CornellFSA achieve the following :
1) The recruitment of over 6000 supporters and followers from the Cornell Community to the CornellFSA Mission.
2) The establishment Of CornellFSA as a Founder and Board Member of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA) and the presentation of the first CornellFSA-AFSA Washuington DC Conference in February 2022.
3) The November 2022 CornellFSA-ACTA launch of the Cornell Campus Freedom Initiative to return Cornell University to a place where Free Expression and Open Inquiry are once again embraced.
4) The establishment of a CornellFSA Leadership Structure currently composed of 5 Leadership Councils and 15 separate Task Forces led by Cornell alumni and faculty which are responsible to implement the Cornell Open Inquiry Initiative.
5) The recruitment of over 100 current Cornell faculty members as Subscribers / Supporters of CornellFSA.
6) Heavy national news coverage of the CornellFSA initiative (see attached CornellFSA News Media Summary).
7) CornellFSA's Key Testimony before the US Congress on the wave of anti-freedom trends which continue to build at US universities.
8) The Fall 2022 Reversal of Abe Lincoln’s Cancellation at Cornell and the return of the Lincoln Bust to public display at Uris Library.
9) CornellFSA’s critically important role in sponsoring and assisting the launch of the Nov22 Stanford Academic Freedom Conference (see CornellFSA sponsorship credits).
10) From CornellFSA's sponsorhip of the Stanford Academic Freedom Conference, the creation of a "Video Short Course" composed of 16 individual in-depth faculty panel discussions assessing the acute threats to Open Inquiry and Academic Freedom now existing at Cornell and other leading US universities. The following first 3 segments of this Video Short Course have already been distributed to Cornell faculty and CornellFSA supporters :
Short Course Video 1 : Conference Introduction by Stanford Professor John Cochrane (11 min)
Short Course Video 2 : The Current Threat To The American University by NYU Professor Jonathan Haidt (17 min)
Short Course Video 3 : The Attack On STEM : The New Target Of University Monoculture (40-min Faculty Panel Discussion)
11) CornellFSA's pioneering efforts with Heterodox Academy (HxA) and a faculty leadership team to launch a new CornellHxA Community of Cornell faculty members in December 2022.
12) The 2022 start-up of a strong non-partisan CornellFSA-affiliated Open Inquiry Student Club at Cornell and incorporation of Cornell Students into the "CornellHxA Community" program.
13) Encouraging Martha Pollack’s Aug22 Annual Address to new students to focus on Free Speech.
14) The creation and launch of the very robust CornellFSA Website which informs all in the Cornell Community of the very troubling conditions that have developed at Cornell in recent years.
15) Establishment of the CornellFSA Quarterly Newsletter which reaches the following key Cornell constituents :
- The 50 Top Leaders & Administrators at Cornell
- 189 Past & Current Members of Cornell's Board Of Trustees
- Over 2000 Current Members of Cornell's Faculty & Key Staff
- Nearly 5000 of Cornell Universities Largest Individual Donors
- The 17 US Billionaires Who Are Cornell Alumni
- The US Congressional Committee on University Free Speech Matters
- 213 NY State Congressmen who oversee Cornell's Legal Status As NY State's Only Land Grant University
16) An “Annual Report To The Cornell Community” on the prevailing anti-Open Inquiry environment now existing at Cornell.
17) A Nationwide CornellFSA Podcast describing the anti-free speech environment that has developed at Cornell and the serious future challenges now threatening our beloved university.
18) Coordination with FIRE and ACTA to plan and implement a "2023 Open Inquiry Convocation at Cornell" which will constitute a major push-back against the Nov22 Cancellation Of Ann Coulter at Cornell.
19) CornellFSA attendance at the Jun22 Heterodox Academy Annual Conference in Denver, CO to review a detailed Strategy & Implementation Plan for advancing Open Inquiry and Free Expression at Cornell.
20) PLUS many other important activities aimed at returning an environment of Open Inquiry to the Cornell Campus.