Carnegie Mellon affirms Grenell appointment
After petitions created by Carnegie Mellon University faculty and students objecting to the university’s decision to appoint former U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell sparked an internal review, CMU President Farnam Jahanian updated the campus Thursday on the review’s findings.
Earlier this year, about 280 faculty and staff members signed an open letter urging the university to rethink Mr. Grenell’s one-year appointment to be a senior fellow at CMU’s Institute for Politics and Strategy.
In the letter sent Thursday, Mr. Jahanian said the committee — chaired by three CMU professors — stated in the report that it reviewed documents regarding the appointment, university policies on appointments, employment and employee rights and responsibilities, as well as documents and letters by opponents and defenders of the hire. The committee also interviewed IPS Director Krenel Skinner and other staff members who hired Mr. Grenell, and it ultimately found those involved in the hiring “acted in good faith.”
“I accept the committee’s report and its conclusions that all existing and relevant policies and procedures were followed,” Mr. Jahanian said. “As such, I affirm that Dr. Skinner had the discretion to appoint Ambassador Grenell to be a senior fellow in IPS.”
The committee also recommends that CMU “establish a more robust and open process for hiring highly visible public figures” and to “engage all members of its community in a process that will deepen their understanding of the rights and responsibilities accorded by academic freedom.”
The report also states the university “fully expects Mr. Grenell to abide by all CMU policies,” including the policy “to conduct all business and related professional activities in good faith and with fairness, accuracy, integrity and respect for others.”
The petitions against Mr. Grenell’s appointment centered around reported comments from Mr. Grenell — who was an appointee of President Donald Trump — on women’s appearances, as well as claims of misinformation. The petitions’ signers also stated, “as an ambassador to Germany, Grenell met with numerous members of the racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic Alternative for Germany.”
Undergraduate students also created a separate letter, with about 1,500 signatures, stating that
“inviting Richard Grenell as a senior fellow would not only tarnish the reputation and credibility of IPS, but hurt the greater Carnegie Mellon community.”
Ms. Skinner defended her decision of appointing Mr. Grenell by stating his role as acting director of the Office of National In -telligence has “given him a unique understanding of the complexities facing the intelligence community and how to address them.”
Ms. Skinner was a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team and served as director for policy planning and senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.