A University of Chicago professor saw his MIT lecture canceled. He blames a Twitter 'outrage mob.'

College “My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit.” The Great Dome on Killian Court at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Adam Glanzman / Bloomberg The Massachusetts Institute of Technology canceled a visiting professor’s lecture after many took to Twitter to call out his views on diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher ed.  The university cited “current distractions” in its decision to nix a John Carlson Lecture — a prestigious honor — to be given by University of Chicago professor Dorian Abbot, the Boston Herald reported. Abbot, who works in the university’s Department of Geophysical Sciences, was set to give a lecture on planets and climate hosted by MIT’s earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences department. On Tuesday, Abbot posted about the experience, saying his lecture was canceled because of an “outrage mob on Twitter.” “My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit,” he wrote.  On Sept. 22, he said, a group of MIT students, post docs, and alumni took to Twitter to demand he be uninvited. Abbot wrote that on Sept. 30, MIT’s department chair told him they’d be canceling the lecture to “avoid controversy.” “It’s worth stating what happened again:…
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