Elaydin

I really wish I could share people's optimism that identity politics in academia is on its way out, but I really can't. I still think the most likely outcome is that universities will clamp down on free speech even more to accommodate concerns about antisemitism. I hope I'm wrong but I think the only thing universities really care about is donors and I don't think donors are more committed to free speech than the average person, so I think the strategy I just described would actually work better for universities than ending their double standard by adopting a principled stance in favor of free speech. Indeed, this would not prevent students from shouting "from the river to the sea Palestine will be free" or whatnot and I'm assuming this is what actually bothers donors much more than the double standard per se, which only a small minority of people who are truly committed to free speech really care about.

Countless members of the University of Michigan family have reached out to me over the weekend and I wanted to express my appreciation. Like any community, we face our share of challenges and adversity. There have been many such moments in our history. But as our team showed so clearly yesterday, we will respond to any challenge head on with a conviction to do better and to emerge even stronger. Go Blue! 〽️