Related Links

●  Niall Ferguson quits Stanford free speech role over leaked emails (The Guardian)

● Paul Krugman blasts Niall Ferguson in the NYT

Emails between the Hoover Institution’s Niall Ferguson and well-known Republican student activists John Rice-Cameron ’20 and Max Minshull ’20 reveal coordination on “opposition research” against progressive activist Michael Ocon ’20 — referenced as “Mr. O” — and efforts to shore up support among members of the Cardinal Conversations steering committee. 

Ferguson resigned from his leadership role in the Cardinal Conversations program on April 16, after Provost Persis Drell became aware of the email chain. 

“I very much regret the publication of these emails. I also regret having written them,” Ferguson wrote in a statement to The Daily. 

Drell said that Ferguson “offered to resign,” and that she accepted the resignation. 

“The emails … were contrary to the spirit and intent of Cardinal Conversations,” Drell said. 

Ferguson himself is well-known for his conservative views. He made headlinesin March for organizing a conference of 30 white male historians. 

The Ocon emails are not the first time that Ferguson has made a statement he later withdrew. 

In 2013, for instance, he statedthat acclaimed economist John Maynard Keynes did not care to consider future generations when discussing current affairs because he was gay. Ferguson later apologized for the statement.