An academic at the centre of a freedom of speech row at Edinburgh University will face “action”, his department head has suggested.
Several students have used online forums to accuse Dr Neil Thin, senior lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, of being racist, sexist and “problematic”.
Thin was targeted after he raised concerns over an event entitled Resisting Whiteness featuring an area that was exclusively for people of colour, which he branded “segregation”.
He also spoke out against the decision to rename the university’s David Hume tower https://www.thetimes.com/article/hume-move-damages-our-university-say-scholars-8fndlprzs after campaigners highlighted racist comments made by the father of the Scottish Enlightenment in 1742.
Thin, 60, strongly denies the claims, insisting that a “bullying puritanical mob” of campus activists was trying to destroy his 34-year career in academia using the cloak of anonymity. He sent letters to colleagues calling for their support, writing: “All I ask is to be allowed to engage freely on important matters of public morality without censorious people who disagree trying to bully me into silence. I trust you would all like to have the same freedom.”
Dr Lotte Hoek, the university’s head of subject for social anthropology, has written to students in response to the allegations. “We are all very concerned about what we hear and see,” she said in an email to students. “We have and are taking action to address the many concerns raised. If there is anyone who is concerned for their own or their peers’ wellbeing please reach out to me, the student support team or to another member of staff.”
Thin said that he was aware of her comments. He added: “I want to mediate, to help people see reason and to get back to core university business, which is providing a space to discuss issues in constructive and exploratory ways.”
A number of third-year students circulated an anonymous letter which suggested they no longer felt safe in Thin’s lectures.
“How can students, especially black and minority ethnic and female students, feel safe at this university with a member of the institution openly contesting feminist issues and engaging with racist rhetoric?” the letter said.
“As students of social anthropology, we pay to learn how to decolonise our thinking and create an inclusive society and environment by carrying out and learning from research that amplifies the voices of minorities.
“Yet a senior member of staff involved in the dissertation writing process is making public comments which contradict many of the allegedly core values of the anthropology department.”
One student called for Thin’s lectures to be monitored to ensure that the content was “appropriate”.
Thin said that the allegations were a mixture of “horribly distorted claims” and “outright absurd fabrication”.
“We can’t expect to teach in a university without offering opinions,” he added. “We also need to keep challenging our own opinions and other people’s with questions, analysis, and evidence. In doing so, some fragile people will inevitably feel — as they put it — ‘triggered’, ‘unsafe’, and ‘traumatised’.”
The University of Edinburgh said that it was “strongly committed to upholding freedom of expression” and any complaints would be treated seriously and subject to standard internal procedures.
