Cambridge discriminates against privately-educated white men, says ‘anti-woke’ professor

James Tooley, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, is starting a course examining the origins of the ‘woke’ movement


Cambridge University has been accused of discriminating against wealthy white males by the vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, James Tooley.

The private University of Buckingham is set to unveil a course on the origins of the “woke” movement inspired by Margaret Thatcher, who Tooley believes would have approved his support of free speech.

Professor Tooley told The Times “Cambridge is absolutely being discriminatory against the privately educated, particularly privately educated white males,” claiming “the government isn’t off the hook” for its “insidious” regulations on admissions.

He explains that “Cambridge famously, explicitly, is reducing the numbers of what you might call wealthier white males” in favour of “ethnic minority males and females, and females in general.”

King’s College, Cambridge

Between the years 2013 and 2022, Cambridge’s state school intake has increased from 61.4 to 72.9 per cent.

The Office for Students (OfS), under which Cambridge is registered, requires all its universities to implement diversity schemes, with aims like attracting students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Tooley expresses his hopes for Buckingham, a private institution, to be a home for “exiles and refugees” who have been ostracised from other universities. Since admission is based solely on academic merit, he is not worried about minority groups taking the places of privately educated males.

Buckingham’s new “centre for heterodox social science” will be run by Professor Eric Kaufmann, who left Birkbeck University after experiencing “steady hostility” from “radical students and staff.”

Kaufmann reveals the centre’s first course will “examine woke like any other ideology and treat it analytically and dispassionately.” He admits that such a course would be a challenge to run at a “mainstream university” where you’re only allowed to “pursue truths up until a red line.”

The Radcliffe Centre, University of Buckingham (Image credit: Wikimedia via Creative Commons)

Referring to the fact that “nine out of 10 social science academics in the UK are left-leaning,” Kauffman claims the new course will give a voice to “conservatism” in the field.

He comments on how difficult it is to get published while making the argument that disparity between races and gender “are not the result of discrimination.” In his course, students will have the opportunity to look at “new journals that are no longer gate-kept” in this way.

According to Professor Tooley, the former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was “absolutely into academic freedom”, is sitting on his shoulder as he introduces the centre, “saying, go, James.”

The University of Cambridge has been contacted for comment.

Recommended articles by this author:

Featured image via YouTube