Ackman, Fryer Launch $1M Prize for 'Academic Courage'

Is the Carob Trust Prize a lifeline for honest scholarship or a bounty for research that fits Ackman's politics?

Published 2 days ago

Ackman, Fryer Launch $1M Prize for 'Academic Courage'

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Above: Bill Ackman speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 4. Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Right narrative

Self-censorship and groupthink has rotted U.S. academia so thoroughly at this point that honest scholarship now needs a bounty on it. The Carob Trust Prize for Academic Courage, offering up to $1 million to as many as five social scientists a year, finally rewards researchers who follow evidence instead of the prevailing consensus. Judging life's work and backing younger scholars makes it stronger still.

Heterodox Academy on X Minding the Campus

Steve McGuire on X

Left narrative

Calling this "academic courage" conveniently leaves out the politics behind it. Ackman has spent years attacking diversity initiatives and led a relentless campaign against Harvard's first Black president, Claudine Gay. Now he's backing a prize with Roland Fryer supposedly built around challenging racial orthodoxies. It's hard to see the prize as "neutral" when it almost certainly favors a particular view on race.

Gesha-Marie Bland on X The Guardian