Good News; Bye Bye Toope

[Khandro]

I'm overjoyed that this foolish man, champion of wokeism, who should never have been appointed in the first place, is 'going to spend more time with his family' - God help them!

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/farewell-to-cambridge-s-disastrous-vice-chancellor

[naomi24]

'Gone' is the best place for him.

[sp1814]

Khandro

Aside from giving us your option a news story - what’s the point of this thread?

I’m not having a go - just curious as to your thought process when you posted it, as you’ve not posed a question.

[Mozz71]

Never heard of him previously, the report does paint him as a bit of a plonker, but by tomorrow I'd have forgotten him again.

[jno]

Cambridge is still in the top three, I see. Looks like his alleged "running Cambridge into the ground" is either working very badly, or is a complete fabrication. I wonder which it could be?

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2022

[Khandro]

SP. I suppose the question might be. 'would you agree?' but I was so pleased to learn that he'd fallen on his sword I forgot.

I have written to this man as have many others, in my case over the no-platforming of - of all people - Jordan Peterson at Cambridge, but of course a reply came there not.

He supported Cambridge lecturer, Priyamvada Gopal who famously tweeted, ‘white lives don't matter', in fact he not only supported her, he promoted her to professor status.

[naomi24]

Questions are not obligatory, sp. Quite a lot of threads are posted simply as a topic of conversation...

[Khandro]

jno: That figures, it's very popular with the Chinese to whom the university is in hock bigtime. More than 1,300 students are from the People's Republic of China, making them the largest international group from a single country studying at Cambridge.

[jno]

vice-chancellors appoint professors? How long has this little-known matter been going on?

[Khandro]

^^^^^^^^^^ please explain

[jno]

Khandro, it is my understanding that vice-chancellors do not appoint professors, so Toope could not have promoted Gopal to professor status. Am I wrong?

[sp1814]

naomi24

"Questions are not obligatory"

No - they're not, but seeing as this site is The [i]Answer{i]bank, asking a question really really helps.

[sp1814]

Khandro

Do you think that everyone deserves a platform?

Flat-earthers?

Holocaust-deniers?

Terrorist-sympathisers?

Anti-vaxxers?

Or do you think that just because someone has a point of view doesn't necessarily mean that they have a right to expound on it wherever they please?

[Khandro]

jno ; //Mark as Best Answer
Khandro, it is my understanding that vice-chancellors do not appoint professors, so Toope could not have promoted Gopal to professor status. Am I wrong?//

It may have escaped your notice that there was something of a s.#t -storm at the time surrounding Ms Priyamvada Gopal's remarks (try Google) not only in the UK but around the world; at such a moment to allow her be promoted to be professor would certainly be within the remit of allowance of the vice chancellor.

[Peter Pedant]

Getting to be a prof - -
advertise and interview

like knighthoods and Nobel prizes people DO turn this down you know. One decided the research budget deal was no good and said no thanks
One prof ( scientific ) ws told to raise his own research funds and went home in a huff ( twas ever thus - at Porton the leader had been doing Coxsackie ( no moolah ) and was invited to do B virus and when that moolah ran out he was out as well)

Other way is, personal chair ( also needs moolah ) and another way is professorial inflation. Govt decided that there were too few professors and invited applications ( title only, no moolah) . One sent in his publications and a ref from the Prof at Cambridge and the Prof at Oxford. he got it.

It used not to be a protected title ( unlike Doctor Nurse and midwife)

[sp1814]

Khandro

Would you say that universities should not be allowed to choose who comes to speak in their halls?

If not - who should hold that responsibility?

If (say) I wanted to give a lecture on why the Holocaust was a sham, or why white African farmers should have their lands seized, is it the duty of universities to invite me to lecture?

And if they do not accede to my demands, should they be sued?

[Khandro]

sp; //Do you think that everyone deserves a platform?//

If a student or faculty member wishes to invite them, yes of course!
It is then up to those who disagree to go along & argue their case.

[naomi24]

sp, //…seeing as this site is The [i]Answer{i]bank, asking a question really really helps.//

The absence of a question in this OP hasn't deterred or prevented you from saying your bit.

//If (say) I wanted to give a lecture on why the Holocaust was a sham, or why white African farmers should have their lands seized, is it the duty of universities to invite me to lecture?//

There's no 'duty' involved but cancelling speakers on the strength of opposing opinions plummets society headlong towards the destruction of the principle of freedom of speech. Unless the content of any speech is designed to encourage violence then all opinions must continue to be heard.

[Khandro]

Sixteen European countries & Israel make holocaust denial a crime, though many historians oppose such laws include Raul Hilberg, Richard J. Evans, Pierre Vidal-Naquet, and Timothy Garton Ash. Other prominent opponents include(d) Christopher Hitchens, Peter Singer, and Noam Chomsky, who eloquently wrote:

It seems to me something of a scandal that it is even necessary to debate these issues two centuries after Voltaire defended the right of free expression for views he detested. It is a poor service to the memory of the victims of the holocaust to adopt a central doctrine of their murderers.

[naomi24]

//It is a poor service to the memory of the victims of the holocaust to adopt a central doctrine of their murderers. //

Well said, Khandro.