58 Oxford academics accused of bullying don who defended Empire
OXFORD academics have been accused of ‘collective online bullying’ after writing an open letter condemning a professor who spoke up for the British Empire.
Fifty-eight staff have signed a statement criticising Nigel Biggar over an article in which he said feelings of guilt about colonialism may have gone too far.
The regius professor of moral and pastoral theology at Christ Church wrote that society should take a more balanced view of the Empire rather than simply remembering it with shame.
But yesterday he was attacked by dozens of his own colleagues, who claimed he was ‘ breathtakingly politically naive’ and was engaging in ‘very bad history’.
Their letter, which was uploaded to the internet, said they ‘rejected’ his views because they gave the impression that Oxford ‘ celebrated’ imperialism. They also branded his new research project, Ethics and Empire, as ‘too simplistic to be taken seriously’ and vowed not to take part in it.
Professor Biggar is the latest in a long line of eminent academics to be shamed online for expressing their views.
Responding to the letter, he said: ‘Any of the colleagues who have signed this statement could have sought to address me directly and personally, rather than engage in collective online bullying. Not one has had either the courage or the sense of collegial responsibility to do so. The project may or may not be the poorer for their refusal to participate, had an invitation been given them. But their refusal will not close the discussion down. They do not have the right to control how I, or anyone else, thinks about these things.’
He added: ‘ The Ethics and Empire project will pay careful attention to the historical variety of things that Empire can be, and work out a more sophisticated way of evaluating them morally.’
Professor Biggar’s original article, ‘Don’t feel guilty about our colonial history’, was published in The Times. It began: ‘Apologising
for empire is now compulsory but shame can stop us tackling the world’s problems.’
The article acknowledged that ‘atrocities’ had occurred under colonial rule, but pointed out that it had also provided law and order in other countries which many citizens had valued.
It warned that Britons may become too afraid to intervene in human rights abuses abroad if they saw all past foreign policy as inherently bad. ‘If on the other hand we recognise that the history of the British Empire was morally mixed, just like that of any nation state, then pride can temper shame,’ it said.
Last week, the article sparked an angry response from Common Ground, a race rights group run by Oxford students, who branded it ‘bigoted’ and ‘racist’. Yesterday’s letter was uploaded to The Con- versation, a website founded by universities which publishes articles by academics.
It said: ‘For many of us, and more importantly for our students, [his views] reinforce a pervasive sense that contemporary inequalities in access to and experience at our university are underpinned by a complacent, even celebratory, attitude towards its imperial past.’
The authors of the letter were James McDougall, associate professor of modern history, Erin O’Halloran, a doctorate candidate, and two junior research fellows, Hussein Ahmed Hussein Omar and Peter Hill.
Both Professor McDougall and Dr Hill say on the website that they are Labour Party members.
Following the furore over Professor Biggar’s article, the university stood by him, saying it ‘supported academic freedom of speech’.
Commenting on the open letter yesterday, a university spokesman said it ‘eloquently illustrates an alternative perspective on empire taken by other university academics in related but different fields’.
Professor Biggar is also a canon of Christ Church Cathedral.
The controversy comes after the failure of a campaign at Oxford to tear down a statue of Cecil Rhodes because of his life as an imperialist. Students at other universities have tried to ‘no-platform’ academics on their campuses because they dislike their views.
‘Will not close the discussion down’