Today for #ShutDownAcademia #ShutDownSTEM, the GEU and its coalition partners in the STEM community are calling for the removal of Stephen Hsu as VP of Research and Graduate Studies at @michiganstateu.
The person responsible for directing MSU research funding is a vocal scientific racist and eugenicist. This is shameful, and it is actively harmful to our research community. #FireStephenHsu
The following thread contains links to Hsu’s own posts and his own words. They are broadly organized into categories demonstrating positions of RACISM, EUGENICS, SEXISM, and CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.
However, these categories overlap & are all rooted in Hsu’s beliefs in innate biological differences between human populations, especially regarding intelligence --an unscientific position which makes him unsuited to direct a research institution’s funding or its graduate studies
RACISM
First see this primer on scientific racism & its history: smithsonianmag.com/science-nature…
Misinterpretation of scientific studies is often used to justify racist ideas & claim some people are inherently worse than others. Scientific racism is rooted in justifying this opinion.
First see this primer on scientific racism & its history: smithsonianmag.com/science-nature…
Misinterpretation of scientific studies is often used to justify racist ideas & claim some people are inherently worse than others. Scientific racism is rooted in justifying this opinion.
Advocating for biological differences between races: infoproc.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-tr…
"Given such results, how are researchers to respond when asked to categorically exclude the possibility of genetically mediated average differences between groups?”
"Given such results, how are researchers to respond when asked to categorically exclude the possibility of genetically mediated average differences between groups?”
More on cognitive differences between races, despite the fact that the authors themselves reject this interpretation: infoproc.blogspot.com/2017/06/comple…
Again claiming innate differences in intelligence based on race, this time among European populations:
infoproc.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-sci…
infoproc.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-sci…
Advocating for differences between brain morphology and races: infoproc.blogspot.com/2016/03/geneti…
Such arguments are reflective of the early days of scientific racism and are shameful. pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeolog…
Such arguments are reflective of the early days of scientific racism and are shameful. pages.vassar.edu/realarchaeolog…
Hsu's belief stand in opposition to the American Society of Human Genetics and over 100 leading evolutionary biologists cell.com/ajhg/pdf/S0002…
cehg.stanford.edu/letter-from-po… Instead, this position aligns Hsu with people like white supremacist Stefan Molyneux or antisemite Ron Unz
cehg.stanford.edu/letter-from-po… Instead, this position aligns Hsu with people like white supremacist Stefan Molyneux or antisemite Ron Unz
As philosopher Jonathon Kaplan has argued, belief in innate genetic race differences in IQ is racist “...because their work reveals a deliberate & systematic attempt to minimize & ignore both the continued existence of racism, & the contemporary and historical effects of racism”
Hsu has also entertained and hosted views arguing that racial underperformance in colleges is related to *lack of segregation* in education and flaws in multiculturality, undercutting the basis of Brown v. Board of education.
infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/03/claude…
infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/03/claude…
Hsu is against removing standardized tests like the GRE & SAT because he believes they measure cognitive ability & that lack of Black & Hispanic representation in higher ed reflects lower ability, despite evidence these tests negatively impact diversity.
infoproc.blogspot.com/2011/06/gre-an…
infoproc.blogspot.com/2011/06/gre-an…
Hsu’s office appears to have directed funding to research downplaying racism in bias in police shootings infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/06/re-pos…
The author cites funding from the VP of Research in support of his lab.
Hsu positively promoted this research after the murder of George Floyd.
The author cites funding from the VP of Research in support of his lab.
Hsu positively promoted this research after the murder of George Floyd.
EUGENICS
Eugenics is dangerous and harmful, especially to individuals with disabilities. Their lived experiences are not aberrations to be removed from the population.
Hsu has been an outspoken advocate for eugenics, including his eugenic own startup business
Eugenics is dangerous and harmful, especially to individuals with disabilities. Their lived experiences are not aberrations to be removed from the population.
Hsu has been an outspoken advocate for eugenics, including his eugenic own startup business
Hsu advocates for embryo selection specifically to remove embryos with the possibility of developing an illness/disease/disability: infoproc.blogspot.com/2019/11/good-a…
His start-up aims to select embryos based on intelligence theguardian.com/society/2019/m…
“Maybe the bottom 1% embryo will grow up to be a great person … even be a scientist, but the odds are against it.”
This harkens back to the flawed, racist idea intelligence is an innate condition
“Maybe the bottom 1% embryo will grow up to be a great person … even be a scientist, but the odds are against it.”
This harkens back to the flawed, racist idea intelligence is an innate condition
Hsu Advocates for breeding “super-intelligent” humans: nautil.us/issue/18/geniu…
“If a human being could be engineered ... , they might exhibit cognitive ability which is roughly 100 standard deviations above average. This corresponds to more than 1,000 IQ points.”
“If a human being could be engineered ... , they might exhibit cognitive ability which is roughly 100 standard deviations above average. This corresponds to more than 1,000 IQ points.”
SEXISM
Hsu continually ovjects to considering diversity as a metric, especially when hiring women at Google: infoproc.blogspot.com/2017/08/damore…
“Damore is pointing out that pro-diversity objectives may incentivize managers to discriminate by gender or race in hiring and promotion.”
Hsu continually ovjects to considering diversity as a metric, especially when hiring women at Google: infoproc.blogspot.com/2017/08/damore…
“Damore is pointing out that pro-diversity objectives may incentivize managers to discriminate by gender or race in hiring and promotion.”
Hsu argues that there are fewer competent women available to hire: infoproc.blogspot.com/2017/08/meanwh…
“This doesn't mean that the females who are > +2.5SD (in the female population) are ill-suited to the role (they may be as good as the men), just that there are fewer of them....”
“This doesn't mean that the females who are > +2.5SD (in the female population) are ill-suited to the role (they may be as good as the men), just that there are fewer of them....”
These same views were unacceptable a decade ago and are unacceptable now. insidehighered.com/news/2005/02/1…
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Hsu has failed to disclose conflict of interest in a paper on predicting DNA traits:
Failure to disclose conflict of interest in a paper on predicting height from DNA:
Hsu has failed to disclose conflict of interest in a paper on predicting DNA traits:
Failure to disclose conflict of interest in a paper on predicting height from DNA:
The GEU recognizes that academic freedom entitles a scholar to express ideas without professional disadvantage
However, the VP of Research and Graduate Studies has tremendous power in determining research budgets and therefore tremendous responsibility in doing so in agreement with University values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Hsu has been clear in his belief in innate group IQ differences & that systemic racism & sexism are not issues. He has demonstrated a lack of ethics by failing to disclose conflicts of interest & using his position as VP of Research to fund research that furthers systemic racism
Hsu’s belief that the lack of representation of Black and hispanic students at universities is due to lower group ability will affect the ways the graduate school and MSU as a whole work to increase representation at the student and faculty level.
Hsu's views minimize the true causes of the lack of Black students in higher education and instead lay the fault at group genetic differences. Given these views we believe it is not possible for Hsu to uphold university values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
When held by someone in charge of directing research funds and direction of graduate study, these racist beliefs deeply affect to the MSU community. MSU’s credibility as a research institution is at risk if Hsu continues to influence research funding.
For these reasons, we demand that @michiganstateu #FireStephenHsu.
You can support the cause by signing the open letter here firestephenhsu.github.io
