A philosophy professor has resigned from Portland State University (PSU) following claims that the school does not foster a healthy academic environment that promotes intellectual diversity.
Peter Boghossian, who taught at the school for 10 years, penned an open letter addressed to Provost Susan Jeffords accusing Portland State of turning into a “social justice factory.” He said that students were previously taught to question belief systems and ideas, but now they are “being trained to mimic the moral certainty of ideologues.”
He added that Portland State staff had abandoned the university’s mission to seek truth and proceeded to celebrate intolerance of differing viewpoints.
“I sought to create the conditions for rigorous thought; to help them gain the tools to hunt and furrow for their own conclusions,” Boghossian wrote.
“But brick by brick, the university has made this kind of intellectual exploration impossible. It has transformed a bastion of free inquiry into a Social Justice factory whose only inputs were race, gender, and victimhood and whose only outputs were grievance and division,” he added.
Academic Freedom
This culture, Boghossian believes, has made students with opinions that oppose the majority “afraid to speak openly and honestly.”
The professor cited a repeated failure by the university to promote academic freedom that left him no choice but to leave.
“Portland State University has failed in fulfilling this duty. In doing so it has failed not only its students but the public that supports it. While I am grateful for the opportunity to have taught at Portland State for over a decade, it has become clear to me that this institution is no place for people who intend to think freely and explore ideas,” Boghossian said.
In a statement Wednesday, Portland State told Fox News, “Portland State has always been and will continue to be a welcoming home for free speech and academic freedom. We believe that those practices are not in conflict with our core institutional values of student success; racial justice and equity; and proactive engagement with our community. As with all personnel matters, we have no comment on Dr. Boghossian’s statement of resignation.”
