Stanford faculty condemn Dr Scott Atlas for spreading misinformation about the

Stanford University faculty members voted to condemn their colleague Scott Atlas for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic through his role as one of President Donald Trump‘s top health advisers.  

The Stanford Faculty Senate (SFS) announced the vote on a resolution which passed with 85 percent approval in a scathing statement on Thursday, calling Atlas’ actions ‘anathema to our values and belief that we should use knowledge for good’. 

‘As elected representatives of the Stanford faculty, we strongly condemn his behavior,’ the resolution said of Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institute and neuroradiologist who was appointed to the White House coronavirus task force in August despite having no expertise with infectious diseases.

‘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.'” 

Stanford University faculty members voted to condemn their colleague Scott Atlas (pictured) for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic through his role as one of President Donald Trump’s top health advisers

The Stanford Faculty Senate’s resolution accused Atlas of spreading disinformation that not only ‘contradicts medical science’ but also damages Stanford’s ‘reputation and academic standing’. The Stanford campus in Palo Alto is seen above in a file photo

The resolution outlined a number of statements for which Atlas has faced significant criticism in recent weeks – including criticizing lockdowns, discouraging the use of masks and claiming that only those who are vulnerable need protection from the virus. 

It accused Atlas of spreading disinformation that not only ‘contradicts medical science’ but also damages Stanford’s ‘reputation and academic standing’.  

The resolution zeroed in on one incident last week, when Atlas urged Michigan residents to ‘rise up’ against new restrictions imposed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in response to the state’s alarming surge in coronavirus cases. 

Leading the charge to condemn Atlas was Dr David Spiegel of the Stanford School of Medicine, who said: ‘What Atlas has done is an embarrassment to the university.

‘He is using his real affiliation with Hoover to provide credibility in issues he has no professional expertise to discuss in a professional way.’ 

Also criticizing Atlas during the SFS meeting was Condoleezza Rice, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and former Secretary of State under President George Bush. 

Rice said that many of Atlas’ comments about the pandemic were at odds with the beliefs of the Hoover Institute and called his Michigan tweet ‘offensive and well beyond the boundaries of what is appropriate for someone in a position of authority, such as the one he holds’. 

The resolution zeroed in on one incident last week, when Atlas posted a tweet (pictured) urging Michigan residents to ‘rise up’ against new restrictions imposed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in response to the state’s alarming surge in coronavirus cases

In another problematic episode, Atlas…