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A university professor is set to launch a “faculty for common sense” at a rival institution after being “cancelled” by his students.
Eric Kaufmann, former head of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London is creating a Centre for Heterodox Social Science which focuses on academic free speech at the University of Buckingham.
The centre for research will investigate woke attitudes and controversial subjects such as trans rights and critical race theory.
It follows what Kaufmann claims was a five-year campaign to drive him out of Birkbeck for his right-leaning views.
Following a 20-year career, he quit the university at the end of August.
“I was cancelled by 1,000 cuts. Academia should be about the advancement of knowledge but you’re not allowed to advance theories which go against the progressive narrative,” he told the Daily Mail.
“If you have a different viewpoint, you’re in the crosshairs.
“The climate at British universities has worsened because morally absolutist, often younger, illiberal progressives are using pressure, public reputational attacks and social media to limit academic freedom.
“It’s a target-rich environment. The woke left can make your life hell and they know it.
“You worry about saying the wrong thing in class so you make it vanilla. You worry about getting your research grant so you self-censor.”
He added: “I believe this new woke ideology threatens the foundations of our civilisation. Every parent in the UK – and around the world – should be concerned at how far it has penetrated into our universities, schools and elite institutions.”
Kaufmann, who is half Jewish, a quarter Chinese and a quarter Costa Rican says he has been described as a white supremacist and a racist apologist for holding views that he defines as “liberal-conservative”.
The professor claims he has faced social media abuse and three internal inquiries following several hostile student course evaluations.
An open letter to the Master of Birkbeck also condemned him and called for him to be fired “for his defence of white identity politics and his countless attacks against Black Lives Matter and other activists and scholars of colour on social media”.
Professor Kaufmann’s first course, “Woke: the Origins, Dynamics and Implications of an Elite Ideology,” will be launched in January.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/university-professor-cancelled-birkbeck-eric-kaufmann-woke