June 16, 2020
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
Over the past few days I have heard from several of you regarding the decision of the Institute for Politics and Strategy (IPS) to engage Ambassador Richard Grenell as an IPS Senior Fellow for the next academic year.
As Dr. Kiron Skinner, the director of IPS, noted in a statement issued Sunday night, in his fellowship Ambassador Grenell will focus on research concerning public policy issues, engaging our community in different forums in Washington, D.C., and giving students who wish an insider’s view of politics and government. This is not a regular faculty position and he will not be teaching any classes. His appointment is for one academic year.
Carnegie Mellon University defends the academic freedom of Dr. Skinner to make appointments such as this within IPS. When the appointment was first proposed, the deans of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the School of Computer Science, who supervise IPS, and I, all agreed that this was a clear case of academic freedom for Dr. Skinner. In addition to reaching out to us, feel free to be in touch with Dr. Skinner. I am confident that she will speak with you about this matter and share her decision making.
This same academic freedom protects deans and department heads in appointments they might make. It also protects each member of the faculty from interference in the types of speakers they invite to campus or the types of scholarly and artistic works in which they endeavor. Limiting that academic freedom in one case would create a precedent that could jeopardize all of us in the future.
Respectfully,
Jim
James H Garrett, Jr.
Provost and Chief Academic Officer