Dr. Scott Atlas responded to a resolution passed by the Stanford Faculty Senate that condemned him for publicly promoting dangerous practices and false information.
The Stanford Faculty Senate, made up of 56 members elected by the faculty of the university, issued a statement last week that condemned Atlas for six specific actions regarding his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that it deemed “promote a view of COVID-19 that contradicts medical science.”
Atlas is not an epidemiologist or a public health expert. He’s a neuroradiologist. He serves as lame duck president Donald Trump’s advisor on the coronavirus pandemic and he’s supported the debunked concept of “herd immunity” to open the economy. Atlas worked at the Hoover Institute, a so-called conservative think tank associated with Stanford.
The six specific things Atlas has done to undermine accepted science: discouraging the use of masks and other protective measures, misrepresenting knowledge and opinion regarding the management of pandemics, endangering citizens and public officials, showing disdain for established medical knowledge and damaging Stanford’s reputation and academic standing. They also condemned Atlas’s urge to the people of Michigan to “rise up” again Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Atlas’s behavior, the resolution states, is “anathema to our community, our values and our belief that we should use knowledge for good.”
“As elected representatives of the Stanford faculty, we strongly condemn his behavior,” the resolution states. “It violates the core values of our faculty and the expectations under the Stanford Code of Conduct, which states that we all ‘are responsible for sustaining the high ethical standards of this institution.’”
The Senate urged university leadership to “forcefully disavow Atlas’ actions as objectionable on the basis of the university’s core values and at odds with our own policies and guidelines concerning COVID-19 and campus life.”
“What Atlas has done is an embarrassment to the university,” Senate member David Spiegel said. “He is using his real affiliation with Hoover to provide credibility in issues he has no professional expertise to discuss in a professional way.”
On Monday, Atlas responded with a letter to The Stanford Review, saying he was “disappointed” in the Senate’s actions and that he has always worked for the betterment of science. “I have always used science and factual evidence to help generate the best possible policies to save lives,” Atlas claimed.
“These views are held by some of the world’s top epidemiologists from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford itself, as well as by thousands of medical and public health scientists from around the world,” Atlas claimed. “I have also repeatedly recommended mitigation measures, including social distancing and mask-wearing when one cannot distance. Media reports to the contrary are simply false.”
Atlas went on to blame the media for covering his tweet that encouraged violence against the Michigan governor. “I wish to correct the misinterpretation of my social media posts that allegedly endangered citizens and public officials. I have made it clear that this was not my understanding or intent. I would never urge or support violence.”
Atlas wrapped up his letter by chiding the Faculty Senate for becoming too political by issuing its condemnation without recognizing his role in politicizing the coronavirus: “I fear that this precedent could further embroil the University into politics and raises the threat that the University will criticize other faculty who disagree with Stanford’s institutional views on these or other issues.”