A professor has quit his job at a London university to set up a “free speech” course at another institution.
Eric Kaufmann, a longtime professor at Birkbeck, University of London, announced today that he will leave his post as a political academic in January 2024 after a 20-year career at the university.
The self-confessed liberal conservative said he plans to launch a “low-cost” online course on the study of “woke” ideology.
He took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and called for people to sign up as he plans to launch a “war on woke” with his course at the UK’s “only free speech university”.
Dr Kaufmann said the decision came as he was “repelled by cancel culture”, but Birkbeck has claimed he left of his own request as “part of a restructure”.
Posting on X, Professor Kaufmann said he was leaving his “full University of London professorship” to “launch a new low-cost online course open to the public on Woke: the Origins, Dynamics and Implications of an Elite Ideology”.
He added: “Why leave? My university’s uncertain financial position played a role, but I was also repelled by cancel culture and attracted by the chance to help build Buckingham as the only ‘free speech university’ in Britain.”
He continued: “Progressive conformity and cancel culture are distorting the teaching and research mission of universities.
“Between the extremely controversial and the progressive-controlled monoculture of academia is a vast and growing zone of unspoken truth.”
The professor said his master’s course – due to launch for the 2024-2025 academic season – aims to “teach and research on topics, or from perspectives, that are difficult or hazardous in the contemporary university”.
He said he aims to “restore truth, rebalance academia and help it regain the trust it is losing among many”.
He concluded: “The aim is to promote objectivity and viewpoint diversity, not indoctrination or narrow limits on the pursuit of knowledge.”
Birkbeck University said in a statement following his post that the institution is “committed to free, robust, and open debate among all members of the College community” and has policies to ensure freedom of speech.
The statement added: “It has policies in place to enable free speech and procedures to investigate and act on concerns, should it be notified of these.
“Professor Kaufmann left Birkbeck at his own request as part of a restructure supporting the reorganisation of our academic departments.”
