Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, May 11, 2025

Stanford professor who challenged lockdowns and 'scientific clerisy' declares academic freedom 'dead'

Stanford professor who challenged lockdowns and 'scientific clerisy' declares academic freedom 'dead'

Stanford University professor of medicine Dr. Jay Bhattacharya declared academic freedom "dead" after he objected to COVID lockdown policies during the pandemic and was deplatformed.
A Stanford University professor of medicine says "academic freedom is dead" after his life became a "living hell" for challenging coronavirus lockdown orders and the "scientific clerisy" during the pandemic.

"The basic premise is that if you don't have protection and academic freedom in the hard cases, when a faculty member has an idea that's unpopular among some of the other faculty – powerful faculty, or even the administration … If they don't protect it in that case, then you don't have academic freedom at all," Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. 

Bhattacharya is a tenured professor of medicine at Stanford University and also an economist who serves as director of Stanford’s Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. 

He came under fire during the pandemic after co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration, which was an open letter signed by thousands of doctors and scientists in 2020 denouncing lockdowns as harmful. Bhattacharya was joined by Harvard professor of medicine Dr. Martin Kulldorff and Oxford professor Dr. Sunetra Gupta in co-authoring the document. 

The declaration was quickly denounced by other health leaders, including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who slammed the call for herd immunity in the document as "nonsense and very dangerous."

Bhattacharya spoke at the Academic Freedom Conference at Stanford's Graduate School of Business earlier this month and said that in the current era, "we have a high clerisy that declares from on high what is true and what is not true."

"When you take a position that is at odds with the scientific clerisy, your life becomes a living hell," he said at the conference. "You face a deeply hostile work environment."

Bhattacharya said that soon after the Great Barrington Declaration gained widespread attention, he received death threats, hate mail and questions on where he receives funding, which he noted, "most of my money has come from the NIH for most of my life."

"The purpose of the one-page document was aimed at telling the public that there was not a scientific consensus in favor of lockdown, that in fact many epidemiologists, many doctors, many other people – prominent people – disagreed with the consensus," Bhattacharya said during his 10-minute talk at the conference. 

And on campus, "a chill" on debate set in and he was disinvited from delivering a campus talk and an effort to organize a debate on COVID policies stalled, the College Fix reported of his remarks at the conference. 

"If Stanford really truly were committed to academic freedom, they would have… worked to make sure that there were debates and discussions, seminars, where these ideas were discussed among faculty," regardless of whether academics agreed or disagreed, he told Fox News Digital following his address at the conference. 

Bhattacharya argued in his comments to Fox News that in many scientific circles during the pandemic, "power replaced the idea of truth as the guiding light."

"So you have somebody like Tony Fauci who says unironically, that if you question me, you're not simply questioning a man, you're questioning science itself. That is an exercise of raw power, where he places himself effectively as the pope of science rather than a genuine desire to learn the truth."

"They systematically tried to make it seem like everyone agreed with their ideas about COVID policy, when in fact there was deep disagreement among scientists and epidemiologists about the right strategy. That's why we wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, to tell the public that there was this disagreement. There was another alternate policy available," he said.  

Bhattacharya charged at the conference that "academic freedom is dead" and that he was left without support from Stanford leaders. 

"The policy of the university, when push comes to shove, is to permit this kind of hostile work environment," he said. "What if there had been open scientific debate on campus, sponsored by the university on this? So that people could know there were legitimate alternate views?"

He argued that if the Stanford president had pushed for a debate when the Great Barrington Declaration was written, "there would have been tremendous controversy around it."

"But at the same time the hostile work environment would have dissipated because what it would have said is, ‘Look, there’s a debate, it’s legitimate to have this debate, a place like Stanford is where this debate ought to happen.'"

Neither Stanford’s media team nor the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on Bhattacharya’s remarks.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Warren Buffett to Step Down as Berkshire CEO After Nearly 60 Years
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Pope Francis Laid to Rest in Rome as World Leaders Attend Funeral
Not Child’s Play: How Competitive Gaming Became a Global Economic Empire
California Surpasses Japan to Become the World’s Fourth-Largest Economy
Former U.S. Congressman George Santos sentenced to eighty-seven months for wide-ranging fraud
Israel Considers Limited Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Facilities Amid Diplomatic Efforts
Saudi Arabia Offers Max Verstappen Unprecedented Deal to Join Aston Martin
Global Pistachio Shortage Amid Rising Demand for 'Dubai Chocolate'
IMF Predicts No Global Recession Amid Trade Tensions
Worldwide Markets Decline as U.S.-China Trade Frictions Intensify
OpenAI Lands Unprecedented $40 Billion Investment
Removing the Political Adversary is Dismantling What's Remaining of Turkey's Economy.
Ex-FIFA President and French Football Icon Acquitted of Corruption Allegations
White House Investigates Security Breach After Journalist Accidentally Added to Secret Yemen Strike Chat
Volunteers in Jeddah Ensure No One Goes Hungry During Ramadan Iftar
New Restaurant Opens in Makkah's Iconic Clock Tower for Ramadan Iftar
Saudi Arabia's Project Masam Removes 552 Houthi Mines in Yemen
Saudi Arabia Fines Over 400 Foreign Trucks for Regulatory Violations
Saudi National Campaign for Charitable Work Reports Significant Donations in Ramadan
Historic Al-Hosn Al-Asfal Mosque Restored in Asir as Part of National Heritage Initiative
KSrelief Expands Humanitarian Efforts in Syria, Sudan, and Lebanon
Saudi Arabia Advocates for Global Water Cooperation at Forum
Madinah Governor Tours Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah
Saudi Foreign Minister in Cairo to Lead Meeting on Gaza Developments
Recognition of Saudi and Pakistani Entrepreneurs at Riyadh Ceremony
UAE Announces $1.4 Trillion Investment Plan in the United States
Saudi Arabia Innovates in Soil Quality and Water Conservation
Governor of Taif Engages with Rose and Aromatic Plants Cooperative
Saudi Food and Drug Authority Enhances Preparations for Hajj Season
Saudi Arabia Distributes Aid to Yemen and Romania
Restoration of Historic Al-Qalaah Mosque in Riyadh Underlines Heritage Preservation Efforts
Saudi Arabia Arrests Over 25,000 for Immigration Violations in One Week
UAE’s ADQ and Energy Capital Partners Announce $25 Billion Energy Venture in the U.S.
KSrelief Launches Extensive Ramadan Food Aid Initiative
Ramadan Celebrations Revitalize Historic Jeddah
Makkah Authorities Urge Worshippers to Follow Crowd Management Guidelines
Direct Flights Between Dammam and Damascus Reestablished for Syrian Residents
Saudi Main Index Rises to Close at 11,760 Amid Mixed Market Performance
Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch Visits Prophet's Mosque in Madinah
Cultural Development Fund Hosts Third Annual Storytellers Event in Riyadh
×