US President Donald Trump (L) listens to White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas speak during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on September 23, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
In the latest step by Stanford University to distance itself from White House adviser Dr. Scott Atlas, who is also a senior fellow at the university’s Hoover Institution, the faculty senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to condemn Atlas for his actions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
A resolution, approved by 85% of the faculty senate, accused President Donald Trump’s top medical adviser of promoting “a view of COVID-19 that contradicts medical science” that is “anathema to our community, our values and our belief that we should use knowledge for good.”
Furthermore, Atlas has discouraged the use of masks and other public health measures, misrepresented knowledge of the pandemic, endangered citizens and public officials, showed disdain for established medical knowledge, and damaged Stanford’s reputation, according to the faculty resolution, which was first reported by the Stanford Report and the Stanford Daily.
The resolution stopped short of calling for Atlas’ removal from the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford.
Recently, Stanford faculty have attempted to repudiate Atlas’ work on the pandemic, during which he has become the most prominent public health voice from the White House. Unlike Dr. Anthony Fauci or Dr. Deborah Birx, two other top health officials leading the pandemic response, Atlas is radiologist, not an infectious disease expert.
In September, more than 100 Stanford faculty signed an open letter that accused Atlas of promoting ideas that “run counter to established science and, by doing so, undermine public-health authorities and the credible science that guides effective public health policy.” At the time, he had drawn criticism for advocating for a herd immunity strategy, according to the Washington Post, that would lose hundreds of thousands additional lives, health experts said.
Most recently, after Atlas suggested Michiganders “rise up” in response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest public health orders, Stanford said Atlas’ personal opinions don’t represent the university, and that his views “are inconsistent with the university’s approach in response to the pandemic.”
Atlas’ statement, in part, was what prompted the faculty resolution Thursday.
“As elected representatives of the Stanford faculty, we strongly condemn his behavior,” the resolution reads, according to the Stanford Report. “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.’ ”
