Academic Freedom Alliance Statement on Mayo Clinic

Doctor sanctioned for comments to journalists about transgender athletes

The Academic Freedom Alliance released a public letter to the Mayo Clinic regarding the sanctions that it has imposed on Dr. Michael Joyner for his comments made in the media regarding transgender athletes and COVID. The Mayo Clinic claims to respect the academic freedom of its scholars but failed utterly in this case.

Dr. Joyner's comments included in a New York Times article on the controversy surrounding the transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas were completely anodyne and well within the bounds of what would be protected under any reasonable free expression policy at an academic institution. From the NYT article:

Michael J. Joyner, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., studies the physiology of male and female athletes. He sees in competitive swimming a petri dish. It is a century old, and the sexes follow similar practice and nutrition regimens.

Since prepubescent girls grow faster than boys, they have a competitive advantage early on. Puberty washes away that advantage. "You see the divergence immediately as the testosterone surges into the boys," Dr. Joyner said. "There are dramatic differences in performances."

. . . .

"There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it," Dr. Joyner noted. "Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla."

For such comments, Dr. Joyner was suspended, denied an annual salary increase, and threatened with termination.

From the letter:

The AFA recognizes Mayo Clinic's reputational standing as one of the leading private institutions for scientific and medical research and we appreciate that such institutions may enact policies that public entities could not due to First Amendment constraints. But in 2022, Mayo Clinic secured identification as an educational institution for tax purposes in Mayo Clinic v. United States. Two years prior, in 2020, Mayo Clinic adopted its current 'Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom Policy,' a policy that commits to the 'freedom of expression, which includes the right to discuss and present scholarly opinions and conclusions without fear of retribution or retaliation if those opinions and conclusions conflict with those of the faculty or institution.' The actions taken against Dr. Joyner are neither consistent with an educational institution's protection of academic freedom nor your own institution's policy.

Read the whole thing here.

FIRE has likewise weighed in with a letter of its own.

Comments

[Tom for equal rights]

Basic scientific and biological facts should not be controversial.

[damikesc]

This speaks poorly for modern medicine that his comments were "controversial".

[Archibald Tuttle]

Comparing modern American cancel culture to China's Cultural Revolution is considered extremist by some. Yet day by day it seems to me that's the path we are following.

[Tom for equal rights]

Does the name of Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko ring a bell?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

No, but Pavlov does.

[Dr. Ed 2]

"Since prepubescent girls grow faster than boys, they have a competitive advantage early on."

K-12 has been ignoring this for 50 years...

[David Bernstein]

Transgender activists, who pushed Mayo to punish the doctor for his initial NY Times comments, are growing increasingly authoritarian. A doctor who studies exercise physiology can’t point out that male testosterone levels lead to much greater average strength? That’s the sort of “transphobic” sentiment they want to suppress? They may win some temporary victories this way, but in the long-term trying to suppress any discussion of the relevant science will inevitably backfire.

[QuantumBoxCat]

You should take a moment and read the Mayo clinic's "Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom Policy" as well as the clinic's "Media Policy." The May Clinic appears to differentiate between between scholarly communications (classroom, academic publishing, academic conferences) and speaking with media outlets. Just because the Mayo Clinic has taken issue with Dr. Joyner's comments to the media does not mean it is "trying to suppress any discussion of the relevant science" in the area of biology and sports, as Dr. Joyner has been able to study this area and publish his conclusions.

As usual, there is more nuance to the issue then is indicated in the referenced opened letters to the Mayo Clinic. But I get that a simplified version of the issue lends to your preferred culture wars narrative.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Would you be as tolerant of suppressing free speech if it were in the other direction?

Free speech is free speech, or it isn't.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

So you're describing the New York Times as a mere "media outlet"?

Just like the New York Post?

[David Bernstein]

There is nothing remotely problematic in what he said, other than that some trans activists were angry that he pointed out that testosterone makes boys stronger than girls. Putting aside any nuances in Mayo's academic freedom policies, why would Mayo, a scientific institution, object to one of its faculty making a scientifically uncontroversial statement to the media?

[Savagely Average]

According to Mayo Clinic's letter, his use of "idiomatic language," to wit, that testosterone is an '800-pound gorilla' in the realm of sports performance, was "problematic."

Your guess is as good as mine as to what they meant by that.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

It will backfire more than they can imagine. Most people are tolerant enough to support same-sex weddings and not care what happens in bedrooms or mind same-sex kissing in public. But if the choice comes down to making all that illegal again in order to prevent children stuffing dollar bills in drag queen shorts, teachers pushing transgender propaganda in secret from parents, and child mutilation surgery, parents and almost everybody else will protect children at the adults' expense.

[Frank Drackman]

“Mind same-sex kissing in pubic”??? heck, I’d pay a few Shekels to see AOC/MTG play Tonsil Hockey, maybe even Kristen Semen-uh and Gillibrand, but no, all we ever get are Pete Booty Judge and Pudgy Chasten.

Frank

[M L]

How can anyone generally trust the US medical establishment today?

Who are these cretins in charge of the once-venerable Mayo Clinic? They need lampposts, figuratively speaking of course.

[Tom for equal rights]

As noted above - the woke has now demanding Lysenko level adherence to science doctrine

[Frank Drackman]

"Once-Venerable" is right, Mayo is where Hairy Black-man researched Roe v Wade and came up with his ridiculous "Trimester" formula (40 weeks divided by 3 is 13 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours, like I said, ridiculous)
almost as his voting to uphold Baseball's "Reserve" clause, just another Old White man keeping a Brutha down.

Frank

[The Margrave of Azilia]

So here's from FIRE's link, the sanctions imposed on this doctor:

"Expectations:
The following expectations must be met in order to ensure your future success at Mayo Clinic:
• Your interactions must be professional, respectful, and align with Mayo Clinic’s Values, Mutual Respect Policy,
Unacceptable Conduct Policy, and Model of Professionalism.
• You must immediately eliminate any new incidents of behaviors which display a lack of mutual respect and
unprofessionalism. This includes, but is not limited to, rudeness, diminishing the contributions of others, criticizing the
work of others, and complaints about perceived incompetence of others. This includes both verbal and electronic
communications.
• Repair and build strong working relationships with members of the Public Affairs team; this will take individual effort
on your part.
• Adhere to the Media Policy and Media Engagement Guidelines. (will provide a printed copy)
• Vet each individual media request through Public Affairs including follow-up requests; Allow them to do their job as
they determine what topics are appropriate and are responsible for protecting Mayo Clinic’s brand and reputation.
• Cease engagement in offline conversations with reporters.
• Discuss approved topics only and stick to prescribed messaging; eliminate use of idiomatic language.
• If an interview request is declined, eliminate unnecessary push back or combative communications. Accept “no” for
an answer and move forward."

[Savagely Average]

The very weird disciplinary letter the Mayo Clinic sent to Joyner reprimands him for using “idiomatic language” and says that his statement that ‘testosterone is the 800 pound gorilla’ was “inflammatory.”

I’m sorry, what? That statement is offensive to who, exactly?

There’s some software I’m missing to decode this.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

I think it means that they want communications to the public to be superintended by their public-relations office. That way, only “approved topics” and “prescribed messaging” get through to the public.

I would presume that their public-relations team consists of physicians with broad experience who know medicine as much as they do public relations?

[Savagely Average]

Possibly, but that doesn't really answer my question. Any thoughts on who is 'inflamed' by a statement that testosterone is an 800-pound gorilla (i.e., dominant factor) in sports performance?

[Magister]

He sees in competitive swimming a petri dish.

They really need to up the chlorine, then. (It also kills cooties.)

[Ed Grinberg]

He dared to say that the emperor is naked.

[Ed Grinberg]

compare:
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/09/1168858094/arguments-that-trans-athletes-have-an-unfair-advantage-lacks-evidence-to-support

[Savagely Average]

The actual article you linked wasn't quite as bad as the headline. But the doctor's clearly approaching it from the position of an advocate and his logic's pretty poor.

He basically argues 'men are better at sports than women but we don't have much data on trans women and it's not impossible that with hormone suppressors the advantage of being biologically male is small enough to be comparable to normal variances in athletic ability. So, we should err on the side of being inclusive.'

Personally, I would argue that (a) for most sports the gulf in athletic performance between men and women is so vast that it should be assumed trans woman have an unfair advantage until proved otherwise; and (b) nobody is proposing rules that exclude trans women from participating in sports so 'inclusiveness' is a red herring.

[Bob from Ohio]

Every single institution has been captured by the intolerant left. When are we going to strike back in a meaningful way?

6.9 billion endowment. Just saying.