Robert, thanks for sharing this and I totally agree with what you have written here. I can say with 100% certainty that Penn dose not support Freedom of Speech or Healthy Debate on Penn’s campus any longer. I have had 2 daughters who have both recently graduated from the University and the stories they have shared with me are shocking. The Penn of today is ruled by a Cancel Culture that has permeated the upper echelons of both the universities Alumni and Faculty. The students no longer feel safe to share their views either openly with other students or for sure with their professors. This is heartbreaking on every level. I had at once proposed to the schools development office the a “Center for Debate” be established on Penn’s campus for the purpose of healthy debate to take place at regularly scheduled events where the challenges that our society face be debated in a proper forum. This idea was shot down immediately. Now Penn has been ranked 2nd to last out of 256 Universities in the United States by the FIRE organization with respect to its support for Freedom of Speech. This is a disaster for sure. Yet Penn stands idle while all this is taking place. It is about high time that the University owes up to its shortcomings and change what is taking place on its campus immediately. If not, the destiny is clear and it’s not pretty!
Thanks for writing this. I’ve been reading your weekly Friday emails for years since we met at an Entrepreneur conference (Scaling Up) many years ago. Your insight and careful use of words create arguments that are so powerful and obvious to me. I can’t understand, though I have tried, why it’s always OK to be blatantly antisemitic. I cannot imagine this happening with any other group
Robert, thanks for sharing this and I totally agree with what you have written here. I can say with 100% certainty that Penn dose not support Freedom of Speech or Healthy Debate on Penn’s campus any longer. I have had 2 daughters who have both recently graduated from the University and the stories they have shared with me are shocking. The Penn of today is ruled by a Cancel Culture that has permeated the upper echelons of both the universities Alumni and Faculty. The students no longer feel safe to share their views either openly with other students or for sure with their professors. This is heartbreaking on every level. I had at once proposed to the schools development office the a “Center for Debate” be established on Penn’s campus for the purpose of healthy debate to take place at regularly scheduled events where the challenges that our society face be debated in a proper forum. This idea was shot down immediately. Now Penn has been ranked 2nd to last out of 256 Universities in the United States by the FIRE organization with respect to its support for Freedom of Speech. This is a disaster for sure. Yet Penn stands idle while all this is taking place. It is about high time that the University owes up to its shortcomings and change what is taking place on its campus immediately. If not, the destiny is clear and it’s not pretty!
Jonathan Rosenstein
Thanks for writing this. I’ve been reading your weekly Friday emails for years since we met at an Entrepreneur conference (Scaling Up) many years ago. Your insight and careful use of words create arguments that are so powerful and obvious to me. I can’t understand, though I have tried, why it’s always OK to be blatantly antisemitic. I cannot imagine this happening with any other group