The Faculty Senate postponed a vote to rescind a 2020 censure of Scott Atlas, a Hoover Institution fellow who advised President Donald Trump on COVID-19 issues, on Thursday.

The senate also voted to have an ad hoc committee review key issues of academic freedom and the Faculty Senate’s role in matters related to censure, with findings to be reported back to the senate this academic year.

In April, the Faculty Senate debated rescinding the 2020 censure of Atlas, with some senators arguing it deprived Atlas of due process and violated principles of academic freedom. The matter was referred to the Planning and Policy Board (PPB) for review.

In presenting the board’s findings, PPB Chair Mary Beth Mudgett said Faculty Senate condemnation of a university community member should occur rarely, and when it does, it should reflect basic principles of fair process. It should also adhere to the principles of the 1974 Statement on Academic Freedom, the 2024 Statement on Freedom of Expression at Stanford, and the 2024 Policy on Institutional Statements at Stanford, added Mudgett, the Susan B. Ford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S).

The PPB also agreed that Atlas was not afforded a fair process, as he was not notified in advance or given sufficient opportunity to respond to the resolution, said Ken Schultz, PPB member, and the William Bennett Munro Professor in Political Science in H&S. However, the senate’s governing documents don’t provide clear guidance on senate censure power.

“The Faculty Senate should decide if it wants this power to censure,” Schultz said. “If it does, we need to establish a committee with the expertise and time to think about what the proper rules should be, and if it does not want this power, it should state so clearly.”

Julie Parsonnet, the George DeForest Barnett Professor in Medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health, said she supports moving forward with developing senate guidelines for censure, but urged the Faculty Senate not to reverse its decision regarding Atlas. “You may think that the senate statement violated due process, and perhaps it did, but we see it at the medical school as faculty taking a stand for science, for defending the lives of our neighbors, families, and friends, and supporting the morale of the medical school and university, the medical workforce, and the university in general,” Parsonnet said.

Steven Goodman, professor of epidemiology and population health, of medicine (primary care and population health), and, by courtesy, of health policy, proposed postponing the vote on rescinding the censure to Nov. 21, citing concerns that taking this vote close to the upcoming presidential election could lead to the action being misinterpreted or used for political purposes.

“It will be taken as a direct rebuke of our medical school faculty,” Goodman said. “It’s naive to believe anything else, so if we take exactly the same action in a month, it won’t have any less impact on our internal processes.”

Jeffrey Zwiebel, the James C. Van Horne Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business, opposed postponing, stating that “a decision to delay this vote because of whatever political signals some people might infer from that seems to me a very clear violation of … political neutrality, a principle that everyone, at least everyone who was on this body last year, voted for,” Zwiebel said.

The vote to postpone was narrowly passed.

Democracy and dialogue

Stanford can have challenging, intellectually rich, and emotionally real conversations by supporting critical inquiry, constructive dialogue, and civic engagement, said Norman Spaulding, the Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law, during a presentation on ePluribus Stanford, a new university-wide initiative on democracy and dialogue across difference.

Spaulding is co-leading the initiative with Dan Edelstein, director of the first-year undergraduate requirement in Civic, Liberal, and Global Education (COLLEGE), the William H. Bonsall Professor in French in H&S, and professor, by courtesy, of history and of political science.

Amid amplified national polarization, students feel reluctant to fully express themselves for fear of being academically ostracized or publicly shamed, Spaulding said. Higher education is one of the few remaining institutions where people of all backgrounds live and interact together, posing a unique opportunity for building constructive dialogue skills.

ePluribus Stanford leverages the university’s centers and organizations already teaching these skills – such as active listening and emotional intelligence – while identifying additional programming opportunities.

“These skills have traveled too long in higher education … under the epithet of soft skills, despite their transformative power to support learning, free expression, democratic engagement, and inclusion,” Spaulding said. “We are working to change that through new programming with partners across the university and to position Stanford to lead in this space.”

A coalition of five nonpartisan student groups at Stanford are also working to create a university culture where constructive dialogue, civic engagement, and a commitment to democracy is valued and visibly practiced, said Juliet Brodie, professor (teaching) of law and the Peter E. Haas Faculty Director of the Haas Center for Public Service, in a presentation on Democracy Day programming.

The coalition includes Democracy Day, Stanford in Government, Stanford Political Union, Stanford Votes, and Stanford Women in Politics, and it has launched a campaign, “Stand for Democracy,” with support from the Haas Center and the Stanford Democracy Hub.

Coalition members have organized dozens of events on campus this fall to foster dialogue held in an open, reasoned, and curiosity-driven manner, Brodie said, and the Stanford Democracy Hub is ensuring that voting resources are readily available for students.

Gavin Jones, the Frederick P. Rehmus Family Professor in Humanities in H&S and a professor of English, was on the senate’s Steering Committee when Democracy Day was developed and recalled the skepticism about whether the day could be filled with meaningful events. He said he is excited to see how Democracy Day has grown since 2021. “It’s really wonderful to realize how this dovetails with the COLLEGE program, with the Haas Center … [and with] all the priorities coming from the president’s office and the provost’s office,” he said.

Associated Students of Stanford University President Diego Kagurabadza emphasized that student involvement and leadership in these endeavors supports the spirit of Democracy Day. “Having your peer reach out to you about the day that they have coordinated, I think, lends to the very strong civic spirit at Stanford,” Kagurabadza said.

Thank you

In addressing the senate, Provost Jenny Martinez thanked Stacey Bent, vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, who is stepping down from her position in early 2025. “I want to say how deeply appreciative we are of Stacey’s work over the last five years, including during the very difficult circumstances of the pandemic, and the way in which she’s focused on fostering a high-quality experience for our graduate students and postdocs and supporting their career career growth,” Martinez said.

In memory

Senators also heard a memorial resolution for Atilla Aydin, professor (research) emeritus of geological sciences, who died Feb. 8, 2022, at age 77. During his 50 years with Stanford, Aydin led teams of researchers and students in remote locations to study prehistoric rock formations. 

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