Cambridge University announced Wednesday that it is revoking a visiting fellowship for Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist who calls himself the “professor against political correctness.”
“Jordan Peterson requested a visiting fellowship at the Faculty of Divinity, and an initial offer has been rescinded after a further review,” Cambridge Faculty of Divinity tweeted Wednesday morning.
[Also read: Trump to sign college transparency and free speech order]
Jordan Peterson requested a visiting fellowship at the Faculty of Divinity, and an initial offer has been rescinded after a further review.
— Faculty of Divinity (@CamDivinity) March 20, 2019
The University of Toronto professor, who has also claimed that white privilege is a “Marxist lie,” first attracted public attention in 2016 after claiming an anti-discrimination bill that would have required him to use his students and colleagues’ preferred pronouns violated his free speech liberties. His position on the legislation prompted protests on campus.
Peterson was poised to participate in public lectures on the Bible as part of an academic fellowship with Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity. The offer sparked outrage among academics and members of the student union, and Cambridge ultimately surrendered amid the backlash.
But the Cambridge University Student Union praised the decision.
“We are relieved to hear that Jordan Peterson’s request for a visiting fellowship to Cambridge’s faculty of divinity has been rescinded following further review,” Cambridge University Student Union said in a statement. “It is a political act to associate the University with an academic’s work through offers which legitimize figures such as Peterson. His work and views are not representative of the student body and as such we do not see his visit as a valuable contribution to the University, but one that works in opposition to the principles of the University.”
Peterson, who said he heard about the decision “through the grapevine,” said he believed the school made a mistake.
“I think the Faculty of Divinity made a serious error of judgment in rescinding their offer to me (and I’m speaking about those unnamed persons who made that specific decision),” Peterson said in a statement on his website. “I think they handled publicizing the rescindment in a manner that could hardly have been more narcissistic, self-congratulatory and devious.”
“I believe that the parties in question don’t give a damn about the perilous decline of Christianity, and I presume in any case that they regard that faith, in their propaganda-addled souls, as the ultimate manifestation of the oppressive Western patriarchy, despite their hypothetical allegiance to their own discipline,” Peterson said.
