
An Ivy League biology professor is warning that critical race theory curricula are erasing the meaning, if not the existence, of “objective truth” from classrooms and teaching a generation of students to treat the truth “fast and loose.”
“We’re supposed to be training people who will become doctors, such as biologists, to make us healthier. Mechanical engineers who will construct bridges or skyscrapers “Randy Wayne, associate professor at Cornell University’s School of Integrative Plant Science, told Fox News Digital over the phone earlier this month. “And if they are trained on the premise that there is no truth, no one wants to be operated on by such a surgeon or drive over such a bridge.”
“And I’m afraid that’s exactly where universities are heading. Training people to treat the truth loosely in order to get what they want. In the case of universities, what they seek is what is known as social justice. And they’re willing to pay to get it by stretching the truth.”
Wayne, the Ivy League institution’s self-described “squeaky wheel,” has been fighting critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for the last year and a half, when he first noticed the faculty senate discussing mandatory critical race theory training for faculty.
Wayne stated that his purpose as a scientist and teacher is to seek truth and teach his students how to seek truth.
“Critical race theory, which is based on the postmodernist assumption that there is no truth, no objective truth,” Wayne said. “You can make any fantasy land you want, as long as it has nothing to do with reality. And, to be honest, the way it’s used instills fear and terror in all those who are afraid to respond to the mantra in the way they believe it should be answered.”
Wayne was inspired to speak out after reading an essay written by Paul Rossi, a former teacher at New York City’s prestigious Grace Church School.
Rossi was among the teachers and parents across the country who spoke out against critical race theory in schools in 2021, describing it as harmful curricula that strips students of their individuality and instead focuses on their race.
“Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the university decided to take action… They couldn’t agree on how to handle it. They decided to simply mandate CRT based on the premise that there is no objective truth “Wayne objected.
According to an opinion essay Wayne wrote for the College Fix this month, among the initiatives discussed and implemented by the school in 2020 were creating a mandatory class for students on racism, bias, and equity; training police in “anti-racist policing;” launching an Anti-Racism Center; and requiring “equity and cultural competency” training for employees.
On May 25, 2021, Wayne sent an email to the school’s president, Martha Pollack, and other university leaders, arguing that critical race theorists’ arguments “can neither stand up to rational academic rigor nor change the hearts of people.”
The email was not returned. So Wayne emailed repeatedly over the last year and a half, but has only received “crickets.”
Wayne has been deeply inspired by people throughout history who have confronted racism with face-to-face conversations in order to change hearts. He argued that the approach he has taken in attempting to end the school’s continued embrace of CRT is to have human interactions motivated by understanding and the “power of love.”
Wayne cited a Black man named Daryl Davis, a boogie-woogie pianist who faced racism at the age of 10 in Massachusetts when a crowd threw bottles and rocks at him while marching in a parade with his Cub Scout pack, in his emails and during his interview with Fox News Digital.
Davis grew up and ultimately took racism head-on, meeting with KKK members and changing their minds on holding hate for people based on skin color.