Can you find op=eds of people criticizing Sally Satel
Executive summary
Yes — critics have published op-eds, letters and formal complaints targeting Sally Satel’s writings and public talks; examples include organized resident letters after a Yale lecture, blog and professional responses to a New York Times op‑ed, and scholarly reviews of her book [1] [2] [3]. The pushback clusters around her stances on “political correctness” in medicine, opioid policy and cultural critiques, and comes from a mix of trainees, professional organizations and academic reviewers who frame her work as ideological or demeaning [3] [4] [2].
1. Where the criticisms appeared — letters, op‑eds and blogs
A concrete instance of organized public criticism came after a Grand Rounds lecture at Yale, when a group identifying themselves as “Concerned Yale Psychiatry Residents” sent a complaint to the department chair objecting to Satel’s presentation and venue invitation, an episode later covered and debated in outlets such as FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) [1]. Professional and advocacy voices also responded in writing to her New York Times op‑ed on institutional review boards: Joan Rachlin of the PRIM&R blog summarized objections and urged the research oversight community to correct what she described as a one‑sided public picture of IRBs [2]. Scholarly and law‑school commentary reviewed and critiqued her book PC, M.D., documenting that it “has drawn both criticism and praise” and noting specific contested chapters [3].
2. The themes that drew critical op‑eds and letters
Critiques often target Satel’s framing of “political correctness” in medicine, which some reviewers call reductionist or insufficiently sensitive to racism and structural inequities [3]. Other flashpoints include her early public defenses of more permissive opioid prescribing and skeptical takes on regulatory approaches to vaping and e‑cigarettes, which provoked rebuttals and ridicule in some commentaries and blogs reacting to her NYT and other op‑eds [5] [6]. The Yale residents’ complaint described portions of Satel’s remarks as “dehumanizing, demeaning, and classist” toward rural populations, language that crystallized a campus debate about academic invitations and departmental stances [4].
3. Who wrote in opposition — residents, professional leaders and academics
The critics are not a single constituency: they include trainees (the Yale residents’ letter), professional association leaders and IRB advocates (PRIM&R), and academic reviewers who parsed her book and arguments [1] [2] [3]. At times the pushback takes the form of formal letters to university leadership or posts on organization blogs rather than traditional op‑eds in national newspapers, but they function as public criticism of her ideas and platforms [1] [2].
4. Context, agendas and counterweight — why these critiques matter
Satel is a prolific public commentator and AEI senior fellow whose op‑eds span high‑profile outlets and controversial topics, so critiques often aim both at specific arguments and at what critics see as broader ideological messaging coming from a conservative think tank platform [5] [7]. Defenders of academic freedom and platforms (e.g., FIRE) have also entered the conversation, arguing that invitations to dissenting faculty should stand even amid protest—illustrating the competing agendas: substantive policy critique versus debate over censorship and academic norms [1].
5. Verdict: can op‑eds criticizing Sally Satel be found, and what’s missing
Yes — documented criticisms exist in the form of organized resident letters, professional‑community blog responses and scholarly book reviews that function like op‑eds by shaping public judgment of her positions [1] [2] [3]. The available sources show active pushback on particular speeches and pieces but do not amount to a single dossier of mainstream newspaper op‑eds uniformly condemning her; much of the response lives in specialty blogs, institutional letters and academic reviews rather than a steady stream of nationwide editorial column denunciations [1] [2] [3]. Where the public record in these sources is silent, this report does not speculate about additional unpublished or paywalled critiques.