The HBS hosts consider a case study testing the limits of academic freedom.

Nathan Cofnas, holder of an Early Career Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, is being threatened with losing his position because he is a “race realist” and, in particular, has stated that there is a difference in natural intelligence in people of different races. What is more, he has argued that race realism, if widely adopted, would be the end of what he has called “wokism.” He unsurprisingly argues that he has the right, because of Cambridge University’s free speech policy “to work on a project on the biological basis of moral norms. I am free to express my views on science, politics, and culture.”

This case raises several issues. Does a mathematics professor have the academic freedom and free speech right to teach that 2+2=7? Cofnas is not, himself, a biologist, physician, physiologist, or neuro-scientist. Does he have the right to teach something that is false or, at best, well outside the consensus of scientists researching the field? Is there an actual clash of values here?

Finally, should we not consider the fact that Cofnas is on the record as wanting to “poke the bear” of “wokeism,” and, therefore, is more interested in controversy than truth? And can we finally put away the notion that there are “two sides” to every issue?

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-131-academic-freedom

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