University of Cambridge professor resigns over alleged declining standards

Dr David Butterfield, a former academic in the faculty of classics at the University of Cambridge, resigned from his post last month, blaming the “steady infantilisation of education” at the university.

Dr Butterfield has condemned a number of changes made by the university in recent years in its efforts to provide appropriate accommodations to students with disabilities, widen access to previously under-represented groups and reduce student workload.

According to an article written by the academic for The Spectator, he claimed that the decision by the university to stop publicly posting class lists, as it voted to do so in 2016, has “snuffed out much of the competitive spirit of the university”.

He also asserted that grade inflation has led to a decline in academic standards, complaining that it is now “unheard of for students to be sent down for insufficient academic performance”.

Dr Butterfield has also highlighted the sharp rise in the number of declarations of disability at the university as a cause for concern. The number of such declarations have increased fivefold over the last 15 years, now being made by around one in four students, with much of the rise concentrated in mental health and specific learning disability-related claims.

He further argued that the rise in these declarations have led to “developments that disrupt university life”, such as deadline extensions to essays, extra time in exams and the recording of lectures. These changes, he claimed, are leading to the “infantilisation” of education at Cambridge, also disparaging campaigns by students to bring in a mid-term reading week.

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The university’s recent efforts to widen access and increase the proportion of state-educated students admitted are an additional source of concern raised by Dr Butterfield, who asserted that this rise is the result of “undeniable discrimination” against students that attended private schools.

From 2013 to 2023, the proportion of state-educated students admitted to Cambridge rose from 61 per cent to 73 per cent. However, given that only six to seven per cent of people in England attended a private school, there remains a clear over-representation of private school-educated students within the Cambridge student body.

Dr Butterfield is also disparaging of the other efforts made by Cambridge to increase diversity and improve the representation of previously under-represented groups, claiming that these efforts have “placed politics ahead of talent”. One such scheme that has been launched by the university in its bid to widen access is the Arts and Humanities foundation year, which it launched in 2022.

Changes in the culture among Cambridge’s academics in the last two decades are also attacked by Dr Butterfield in his article, as he claimed that there has been an “undermining of that deep sense of communal responsibility for the institution” and a rise in centralised bureaucratic control, which have served to stifle academics and suppress the unique culture of the Cambridge collegiate system. This, he claims has been coupled by a general “loss of trust in what the essential character of the institution is: Elite, selective, competitive, rigorous”.

The University of Cambridge, to Dr Butterfield, is therefore an institution in perpetual decline, with only a few colleges that continue to operate as “sound institutions” – Christ’s, Magdalene, Pembroke, Peterhouse and Trinity.

The faculty of classics and Ralston College have both been approached for comment but have not yet responded.

Ralston College’s statement with regard to David Butterfield’s appointment can be found here.

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