Cambridge University has failed to “uphold freedom of speech”, says a lecturer, after the university refused to host his pro-Brexit lecture, claiming that his views were not in the “mainstream” of acceptable opinions.
Radomir Tylecote, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, was planning on holding a lecture entitled “The classical liberal case against the EU”.
Cambridge University declined to host the lecture, saying: “We’re looking for something a bit more mainstream”.
“It’s just that we had a pro-Brexit speaker once and it all got a bit uncomfortable, a bit, controversial”, Cambridge said.
Tylecote responded by saying that “this is broadly the view of 52 per cent of the UK population!”
In an article for the Spectator, entitled “Why is there more intellectual freedom in Bucharest than Cambridge?”, Tylecote argued that Cambridge University has failed to “uphold free speech or to grasp what it is to be properly liberal.”
“Because if I can make a case against rule by faceless bureaucrats in a former Warsaw Pact dictatorship but not at one of our finest universities, our culture is in serious trouble”, he added.
Delingpole: Cambridge Appoints Grievance Archaeologists to Unearth Slavery Shame https://t.co/6PKzlMydtq
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 30, 2019
Earlier this year Cambridge drew widespread criticism after deciding to remove an offer for Jordan Peterson to serve in a fellowship position at the divinity school.
Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and best-selling author, said Cambridge “decided that signalling their solidarity with the diversity-inclusivity-equity mob” was more important than the opportunity of having him lecture at the school.
The announcement was met by glee from the Cambridge Student Union who said: “It is a political act to associate the University with an academic’s work through offers which legitimise figures such as Peterson. His work and views are not representative of the student body and as such we do not see his visit as a valuable contribution to the University, but one that works in opposition to the principles of the University.”
Breitbart’s James Delingpole wrote of the decision to disinvite Peterson, writing that: “Cambridge no longer deserves to be taken seriously as a world-class university. Mind you, nor does Oxford. Nor do the Ivy League. They’ve all been SJW converged.”
Cambridge University Rescinds Fellowship Offer to Jordan Peterson https://t.co/W0eVENTaQC
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 22, 2019
Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/gAEao9jl86w/