A conservative Stanford scholar apologized for suggesting that two conservative students should conduct “opposition research” against a progressive student activist.
Stanford scholar Niall Ferguson resigned from a leadership position he held at Stanford free speech endeavor Cardinal Conversations after leaked email chains came to the attention of university provost Persis Drell, reported The Stanford Daily. The Hoover Institution, where Ferguson resides as a scholar, has helped fund the Stanford College Republicans in the past.
“Some opposition research on [student Michael Ocon] might also be worthwhile,” Ferguson told Stanford College Republicans President John Rice-Cameron and his Hoover researcher and conservative student activist Max Minshull in an email. Minshull said he would conduct the research.
“[The former Cardinal Conversations steering committee] should all be allies against [Ocon],” Ferguson told the students. “Whatever your past differences, bury them. Unite against the SJWs. [Christos] Makridis [a fellow at Christian student publication Vox Clara] is especially good and will intimidate them.”
Ferguson was not the only one to use politically charged language in the exchange.
“Slowly, we will continue to crush the Left’s will to resist, as they will crack under pressure,” Rice-Cameron told the other two individuals in the chain.
Drell accepted Ferguson’s resignation after she discovered the emails in April.
“The emails … were contrary to the spirit and intent of Cardinal Conversations,” Drell said in a comment obtained by The Stanford Daily.
“When these emails were written, I was worried that Cardinal Conversations would cease to be an organization commited [sic] to inviting speakers of diverse viewpoints; we believed that activists were trying to restrict conservative voices from being heard,” Minshull said. “That said, I harbor no personal animus against Michael Ocon and apologize that my emails crossed a line.”
Ferguson came under fire in 2013 for suggesting that economist John Maynard Keynes was not worried about future generations because he was gay and had no children. He also received criticism for praising the British empire and colonialism.
Stanford also made headlines in May when one of its black freshman students bashed Black Lives Matter in a viral video. (RELATED: Black Stanford Student Dishes On BLM For Neglecting Black Fathers [VIDEO])
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Rice-Cameron and Minshull for further comment but received none in time for press.
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