Iain Macwhirter: Time to cancel university bosses who violate laws on free speech heraldscotland.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from heraldscotland.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Dr Neil Thin, 60, a lecturer in social anthropology, is being investigated after being branded racist for criticising the University of Edinburgh s move to rename a tower honouring philosopher David Hume.
Senior academics at Edinburgh University have called on their principal to resign, claiming that he has sacrificed free speech to placate a small group of political “zealots”.The university’s decision
EDINBURGH University is becoming an embarrassment to Scotland. Having renamed the David Hume Tower after woke protests they have now suspended and shamed a liberal anthropology lecturer for daring to say things that most people think. I’d say, you’ll all know the case of Dr Neil Thin by now, but the coverage of the case has been sparse to say the least. Search his name on the BBC website and you’ll find, with irony, that the great British Broadcasting Corporation were more than happy to have Dr Thin on their Radical Thinking programme in 2016. Today, in contrast, as 60-year-old Thin is cancelled and humiliated by the university, the BBC, in their wisdom, see no story.
This includes marking student assessments and being a personal tutor.
It follows accusations about his “problematic” views expressed online allegedly affecting his teaching, marking, and classroom environment.
After this, a group of third year Social Anthropology students wrote a template for a letter for students to complain to the department about Neil Thin’s alleged behaviour.
The letter prompted Head of Department for Social Anthropology, Lotte Hoek, to commit to “taking action” over his comments and behaviour.
Neil Thin strongly denies any accusations of racism, sexism, and these views impacting his teaching and marking. He told his personal tutees he was “puzzled” by the letter of complaint against him and believed that he had “expressed no reprehensible views, nor have I ever been rude or unkind to any student in my 34-year career here”.