Fearing 'woke,' 'intolerant,' free speech-hating students will cancel them, professors are 'dumbing down' courses to save their careers, UK prof says

Fearing they'll be canceled by free speech-hating students, college professors are "dumbing down" courses, a United Kingdom professor told the Telegraph.

Prof. Steven Greer — a former human rights lecturer at the University of Bristol — told the outlet he feared for his life after being falsely accused of Islamophobia. Now, the Telegraph said, he's written a new memoir in which he sounds the alarm over the deterioration of freedom of speech in academia.

"Falsely Accused of Islamophobia: My Struggle Against Academic Cancellation" was published by Academica Press and encourages "free inquiry and debate in an age of cruel, shameless, unaccountable, and groundless censorship, vilification, and victimization."

What's the background?

Students with the college's Islamic Society complained in 2020 that aspects of Greer's "module" on Islam, China, and the Far East — part of the "Human Rights in Law, Politics, and Society" course — were racist or discriminatory, the Telegraph said.

Students fired off a petition calling for Greer's suspension or dismissal if he didn't issue an immediate apology, the outlet said, adding that just days later, he received a series of threatening emails and became alarmed after spotting someone loitering near his home.

In fact, Greer — a grandfather of three — told the Telegraph he feared being attacked or killed by Muslim extremists and grew a long, bushy beard, wore false glasses and a pulled-up hoodie, and even carried a “sturdy” umbrella and a screwdriver for protection.

Following a five-month investigation, Bristol University in July 2021 fully exonerated Greer of all allegations, the outlet said.

Greer told the Telegraph that universities aren't doing enough to protect instructors from “intolerant students” who can place academics at risk of attacks not only against their reputations but also actual physical attacks “based on nothing but lies and distortion."

“My case is not the first of this kind and nor, sadly, is it likely to be the last," told the outlet. "Cancel culture is fast becoming the scourge of academia and, in my opinion, it threatens to dumb down degree courses at many of the UK’s finest institutions."

He added to the Telegraph that “many academics, fearing being falsely labelled as hostile to minorities by woke campaigners, are already actively self-censoring to avoid any potential backlash."

Greer also told the outlet that fellow scholars also are “dumbing down” their courses for fear of being falsely branded as “hostile to minorities including gays, transsexuals, and Muslims.”

Here's a video interview with Greer. It was posted last year by the Bristol Free Speech Society and dealt with Greer's response to both Islamophobia claims and a social media campaign against him:

Islamophobia and Academic Freedom: In Conversation With Professor Steven Greeryoutu.be

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