杏吧原创

OVER the past few weeks, Edinburgh University has supported its
controversial psychologist Christopher Brand, on the grounds that 鈥渁cademic
freedom鈥� allows his studies of intelligence, race and genetics. So far, so
good鈥攊ntellectual freedoms are essential.

How strange then that during these same weeks, Edinburgh University has
decided to be rid of its outspoken Centre for Human Ecology, where staff and
students are more likely to be debating the relationship between the profit
motive and the decline of reverence for the land than whether the mean IQ of
black people is less than that of whites.

The centre has an international reputation, its former students and visiting
researchers have published numerous books and papers, and its MSc course is in
demand from students around the world. An attempt to shut it down last year was
averted only at the very last moment. Now, the contracts of its staff are to be
ended, its MSc course closed and its library dissolved.

The centre has always, of course, been far too radical for many in the
university. Its members have campaigned against the development of
鈥渟uperquarries鈥� and questioned the pattern of land ownership, with 80 per cent
of Scotland in the hands of 900 families. Even 鈥渆nvironmentally friendly growth鈥�
has been challenged by asking whether some people might be more fulfilled with
less resources.

Overall, there will be a considerable loss to the university鈥檚 intellectual
tradition. Among those to go will be Alistair McIntosh, teaching director of the
institute, whose views on the relationship between science and ethics can be
read in this week鈥檚 Forum. The MSc students will finish their courses and
depart, and a tradition of fearless inquiry will be broken. Edinburgh University
should have been big-hearted enough for both Brand and McIntosh to flourish
within its walls.