Gender, bones, and backlash: anthropologist rattles campus

Woke culture's growing influence in academia has put one professor's views on scientific objectivity under fire. Elizabeth Weiss, an anthropology professor who left her job at San Jose State, is now the poster child for the clash between old-school science and modern social issues.

Weiss claims skeletons are only male or female. In her book "On the Warpath," Weiss rails against wokeness, saying it's killing real science and debate in universities.

Weiss's drama kicked off when criticized the practice of returning Native American bones under NAGPRA. She thinks this habit of burying old bones based on tribal stories, not hard facts, is hindering our chance at understanding ancient history.

Despite initially receiving recognition for her work, Weiss faced severe backlash following her book's publication. She reports being labeled a "white supremacist" and a eugenicist for expressing opinions she had been teaching for years. Weiss claims her university locked her out of the bone room she'd managed for years.

She sued the school for violating her free speech, but they settled things out of court. She reports experiencing professional ostracism, including removal from academic conferences and rejection of her work by editors. The anthropologist views these reactions as symptomatic of an academic environment increasingly hostile to dissenting opinions and rigorous scientific debate.

In her new book, Weiss argues that "wokeism" is deeply wounding academia and making inroads into science. She contends that identity politics, postmodernism, victim narratives, and a Marxist mentality are damaging the field. The anthropologist challenges the notion that indigenous knowledge should be equated with scientific knowledge, viewing the former as mythological rather than empirical.

Weiss expresses concern about museums removing human remains from display due to sensitivities and superstitions. She argues that this cultural shift towards prioritizing indigenous oral traditions over scientific evidence has led to a significant loss in our ability to reconstruct the past.

Since leaving San Jose State, Weiss has accepted a faculty fellowship at Heterodox Academy in New York City, where she continues her research. Weiss is still fighting for academic freedom and open debate, pushing back against what she sees as woke ideology in universities.

The Weiss saga shows just how messy things get when you try to balance objective science with cultural sensitivities in research. This situation raises the question: How do we maintain scientific integrity while respecting different viewpoints in academia?