Please Help Fund "The Cornell Open Inquiry Initiative"
Open Inquiry and Academic Freedom are under profound threat at Cornell University. CornellFSA has assembled an army of Cornell Community volunteers who are dedicated to bring critically important educational reforms to Cornell. We soon plan to commence a 2022 year-end fundraising campaign that will provide the resources needed to implement future CornellFSA programs. A fundraising goal of between $100,000 and $150,000 is the target. Raising these funds is essential to sustaining the CornellFSA mission and initiative. A summary of CornellFSA's major accomplishments and ongoing action plans can be reviewed below. For the coming year, we very are pleased to report that CornellFSA has received a generous "Matching Gift Pledge" from supporters of our volunteer corps efforts. We hope you will contribute to CornellFSA and help return our beloved university to its founding vision and mission. We will soon be reaching out to supporters to fund the CornellFSA action plan for 2023 and beyond. If you already intend to make a donation (checks only), please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]. Thank you!
CornellFSA : 2023 PLANNED USE OF FUNDS
Over the past 15 months, untold hours and energy have been contributed by many Cornellians to advance the CornellFSA Mission. What has been accomplished through this extraordinary effort is impressive indeed. As success is achieved, an increasing number university Open Inquiry opportunities and "ideas for action" continue to flow to CornellFSA from prominent leaders in the Free Expression / Academic Freedom movement, from national non-profit organizations who wish to join the CornellFSA initiative, from other universities, and from our own CornellFSA volunteers. The "2022 Stanford Academic Freedom Conference" is an example of such CornellFSA opportunity and the planned "2023 Cornell Campus Freedom Convocation" is shaping up to be another major CornellFSA initiative of great importance. With this font of opportunity, there is much that CornellFSA must do to make critically importantly progress in returning Cornell to a place of Academic Freedom & Open Inquiry -- rather than having our university continue to slide down a path toward Repression & GroupThink. To succeed in its mission, CornellFSA needs increased human resources which are positioned to build the communication methods and channels within the Cornell Community and beyond to bring to light the very serious challenges to Open Inquiry & Free Expression now facing Cornell University. The December 2022 fundraising drive is aimed at providing the human, organizational, and communication resources to achieve the following key CornellFSA goals for 2023 :
- Providing the resources to continue to expand CornellFSA efforts to inform and enlist Cornell's 250,000+ alumni, 20,000+ students, and 3,000+ faculty & administration to the Cornell Open Inquiry Initiative.
- Although our activities will continue to be dominated by volunteer efforts, financial resources are needed to hire a part-time Managing Director to drive and oversee the continuing mission and activities of CornellFSA.
- Funding the efforts of 3rd-party information technology and communication firms whose expertise and talents can effectively advance CornellFSA goals and activities.
- Assembling funds to support a part-time Administrative Assistant who will aid the Managing Director in outreach, communication, and organization with respect to CornellFSA's growing volunteer efforts.
- Marshall the resources necessary for CornellFSA to join with ACTA, FIRE, and 20+ other non-profit organizations and university alumni / faculty / student groups in sponsoring a 2023 "Cornell Campus Freedom Convocation" on the Ithaca campus.
- Providing the means and methods for CornellFSA to help and direct other university alumni / faculty / student groups across the US in the fight to return American universities to places of Open Inquiry, Free Expression, Viewpoint Diversity, and Academic Freedom.
All the above tasks require resources. CornellFSA knows what to do, has the necessary position within the nationwide University Open Inquiry Movement, and knows how to get the job done. However, we need donor support to advance this crucial effort to secure the future of both US universities and American values in higher education.
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 prominent installation of the Lincoln Bust display to 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 Latest 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.