The Rise of Thompson: Abigail Fights Back Against the Evil Chad Topaz of Williams College in New WSJ Article

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - I was pleased to see this afternoon that Abigail Thompson hasn't backed down from her courageous comments condemning the new, mandatory, politically biased diversity statement screening tools used at UC Davis and elsewhere to keep the unwoke out of their first teaching jobs. She has a new article in the Wall Street Journal which lays out the basics of her case.

The University’s New Loyalty Oath: Required ‘diversity and inclusion’ statements amount to a political litmus test for hiring.

I suppose what is most surprising about her newest report is that she is surprised that so many of her colleagues are frightened of pushing back, even in the slightest, at the woke activists, including Chad Topaz, who have long been hostile to the concept of freedom of speech and more than willing to destroy the lives and careers of those they define as their enemies. As Thompson writes, she received over 150 emails, overwhelmingly supportive, from top mathematicians in the U.S. and the world. Nevertheless, she reports some horrifying news:

Many emails contained a disturbing theme, typified by this line from one of them: “Some day I, too, hope to speak out on this issue, but it is simply too dangerous at present.” This is a frightening sentiment to hear in academia. If expressing a widespread but controversial view is seen as taking a tremendous personal risk, the university system isn’t healthy. Ideas cannot thrive and mistakes cannot be corrected if people are afraid to speak out.

I cannot help but think that Abigail Thompson is a typical leftist, female professor who is surprised to find that she is now considered the enemy by those who have decided that any gap between the percentage of blacks teaching math at the university level and the percentage of blacks in the general population is evidence of a towering level of systematic injustice, an injustice which might easily be fixed by getting rid of white female professors like herself. Out of her alarm, however, Thompson does a great job of sharing some of the reasons why it is actually counter productive to judge job candidates - largely inexperienced young graduate students - according to the content of their diversity statements. Referring to the folks who sent her emails, she writes:

Some pointed out that the diversity statements tend to be formulaic, with many candidates coached on how to write them, and that the content often emphasizes ideology over accomplishments. Others noted that the statements disadvantage foreign applicants and candidates from low-income groups, who may not have opportunities to participate in voluntary activities that demonstrate a commitment to diversity.

All in all, I'm grateful to see academics like Abigail Thompson taking a brave stand to protect those of us who do not agree with either critical race theory, or identity politics. "To its credit, the UC Davis administration has supported my right to speak," she writes. "I hope that continuing discussion will confirm the vital principle that scholars discuss ideas, they don’t silence them."

John C. Drew, Ph.D. is an award-winning political scientist and a former Williams College professor. He is an occasional contributor at American Thinker, Breitbart, Front Page, PJMedia and WND.

Campus Reform Takes on Williams College Anti-Free Speech Zealot Chad Topaz

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - A student journalist at Campus Reform, Isadore Johnson, has zeroed in on Williams College math professor Chad Topaz and Chad's over-the-top demand that Abigail Thompson be fired from her job at UC Davis for the wrongthink violation of comparing diversity statements to McCarthy era loyalty oaths.

Prof says college hiring practices include 'a political test,' likens to McCarthyism

The article covers a lot of Abigail's views. It also shows Chad Topaz to be a frightening extremist who will tolerate no opposition to his political views.

“I don’t know why Abigail Thompson would think this stuff, nor why the American Mathematical Society would publish it,” wrote Topaz, adding “There is no room in today’s world for false equivalencies and both-sides-ism.” He encouraged other academics to boycott the publication for publishing Thompson’s thoughts, to publicly shame Thompson on social media, to shame UC Davis for allowing her to be their department chair, and finally to avoid UC Davis as a grad school or a potential employer for his students.

 

Thankfully, Chad's efforts to get Abigail Thompson fired are starting to receive national attention. We have already seen a number of articles written on this topic by those posting at Anonymous Political Scientist, American Greatness, Breitbart, Economics Job Market Rumors, Ephblog, The College Fix, The Other Dunwoody, Post Tenure Tourettes, The Leitter Report, The Reference Frame, Why Evolution is True and Williams Liberty.

The College Fix posted a second article on December 10, 2019 focused on the counter petition condemning Chad Topaz which mentioned it has been signed by four Fields Medalists and eight past presidents of the American Mathematical Society. In addition, there is now a popular meme regarding Chad Topaz which your can view after the break.

John C. Drew, Ph.D. is an award-winning political scientist and a former Williams College professor. He is an occasional contributor at American Thinker, Breitbart, Front Page, PJMedia and WND. His pronouns are Master/Commander.

Shut Up, He Argued: Williams College Anti-Free Speech Advocate Chad M. Topaz Tries to Get a UC Davis Professor Fired

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Williams College math professor Chad M. Topaz is in the news today for fighting to get a female math professor fired from her job at at UC Davis. Her egregious offense?  She had the temerity to argue that requiring diversity statements from young people applying for teaching positions is suspiciously similar to McCarthyism. This is the latest example of woke policing coming from the perpetually offended Topaz whose exploits have already caught the attention of places like Ephblog, the Williams College alumni run blogsite.

Chad Topaz, a professor of mathematics at Williams College
is leading an effort to get a fellow math professor at
UC Davis fired from her job for her opposition to mandatory
diversity statements. 

Tearing into Abigail Thompson, Topaz demands his readers contact UC Davis, Thompson's institution "to express your concerns about diversity in the Department of Mathematics and about Thompson’s role as Chair. If she has gone on record in a very public way as being opposed to diversity statements, and if UC Davis requires them, the school must look into whether or not she has been abiding by institutional policy."

Abigail Thompson

Basically, Topaz is mobilizing a nation-wide effort through his QSIDE organization to get Abigail fired for speaking her mind. FYI: I've taken a screenshot of the above statement so that I'll have a record of it if he is ever forced to delete it.

Thompson wrote an argument against the use of diversity statements for what Topaz believes is the most widely-read mathematics publication in the world, the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. He found her argument so noxious that he refused to provide a link to it. Nevertheless, you can read about it here. 

The other target for his woke vitriol is the publication which published Thompson's statement. Topaz is particularly incensed that the Notices of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) seems to believe that there are two sides to the argument.

"By amplifying Thompson’s views to a large audience, the American Mathematical Society lends legitimacy to them, and in doing so, engages in both-sides-ism," he writes. "It’s ok to use diversity statements, on one hand, and diversity statements are like McCarthyism, on the other hand." 

In his most recent blog post, he complained that the Notices is a little too eager to publish dissenting points of view. He writes, "...it seems the Notices (part of AMS, obviously) holds a value something akin to “let all sides be heard.”

As you might expect, Chad M. Topaz's woke instincts have brought his dopey, totalitarian anti-free speech views to the world of Twitter. The story has also been picked up by Inside Higher Education. Most recently, he was the subject of a blistering attack from the blogsite Leiter Reports.

In his original attack on Thompson, Topaz tries to suggest that the use of diversity statements in the hiring process isn't another backdoor way of discriminating against whites and conservatives who believe such statements are unnecessary or unhelpful. He denies that these diversity statements have anything to do with either politics or affirmative action. "A straight white cisgender man can write a stupendously effective diversity statement," according to Topaz, "if he learns about the issues and thinks about how to address them in his professional life."

The professor he attacked, Abigail Thompson, is quite distinguished. She serves as the Vice President of the American Mathematical Society and Chair of the Department of Mathematics at UC Davis.

In his article, Topaz attempts to mobilize the full hatred of the left against her by suggesting other efforts in addition to trying to get her fired. All of this, by the way, is published at QSIDE. For example, he provides the emails of those who were responsible for publishing her article along with his own suggested text. He calls for us to "stop doing favors" for Notices. "Spread the word about this debacle on social media and in your workplaces," he writes.

He even seeks to dry up the supply of young graduate students for UC Davis, saying: "For those of you who are in mathematics, advise grad-school-bound undergraduate students – especially students who are minoritized along some axis – not to apply to UC Davis." Who knows? In a couple more days, maybe Chad Topaz will call for the utter destruction of the UC Davis campus itself for the sin of not reacting quickly enough to his anti-free speech fatwa?

Previous fatwas issued by the prodigious Chad M. Topaz include his attacks on various institutions which are way too white for his tastes including art museums and or mathematics editorial boards. For more information about his organization the QSIDE Institute, check out the following link.

John C. Drew, Ph.D. is an award-winning political scientist and a former Williams College professor. He is an occasional contributor at American Thinker, Breitbart, Front Page, PJMedia and WND. Pronouns - Master/Commander.