Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers has a reputation for standing up for rational principles, and has been known to require his managers to read Atlas Shrugged.
In the mid-90s, Rodgers “rebuked a nun who had criticized Cypress for its lack of women or minority board members, saying it would be immoral for him to pick directors based on criteria other than merit.”
More recently, an article for the San Francisco Chronicle reports that he’s decided to run for office. In particular, he’s running for the board of trustees for his alma mater, Dartmouth College, in a bid to reform its politically correct and educationally destructive policies:
Rodgers, class of 1970, said he’s concerned that his alma mater, long a bastion of traditional education, is wasting scarce money “in the diversity area.” He wants the college to stop adding ethnic studies classes and refocus its resources on the fundamentals, such as civics, science and history.
“I could live with (the spending) if it was for academics,” said Rodgers, who is running on a platform of fiscal prudence and a return to basics.
He was urged to undertake this diversion from running Cypress’ $863 million business by another Bay Area iconoclast — former legislator and Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp.
“He is a man of convictions, unafraid to express those convictions, and a believer in Dartmouth,” said Kopp, class of ’49 and an active member of the college’s 62,000-member alumni association.
Clara Lovett, president of the American Association for Higher Education in Washington, D.C., said Rodgers and Kopp are not the only prominent alumni trying to counter “what they see as too much political correctness on campuses.”
“You can argue about their opinions or disagree with them, but they are people whose education has served them well,” Lovett said. “They can think, they care, and they can make an argument.”
See the full article for more details.