Students at Northwestern are calling for the removal of a visiting professor whose views have been called sexist, racist and Islamphobic, reports Inside Higher Education.
Professor Satoshi Kanazawa has been written articles entitled Are All Women Easily Prostitutes, Why are Black Women Less Physically Attractive than Other Women and What’s Wrong with Muslims?
A petition describing Kanazawa’s work at the London School of Economics and Political Science as “fraud research” has been signed by 4,200 people on Change.org. The University, however, seems unlikely to force Kanazawa to leave.
“I find that his scholarship presents ideas that are antithetical to values that Northwestern University holds dear,” wrote Provost Jonathan Holloway in a statement to the Northwestern community.
“Like all guest research scholars, he is entitled to express his personal views, including on his personal web pages, as long as he does not represent such opinions as the views of the University. Kanazawa has made clear that his opinions are his own. As a member of the Northwestern community, I believe that personally held views, no matter how odious, cannot be a reason to undermine the vital principle of intellectual freedom that all academic institutions serve to protect,” concluded Holloway.
The provost acknowledged the vetting process of visiting professors needs to be improved and said the department that invited him has vowed to make it more stringent in the future.
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According to CBS Chicago, Kanazawa is being hosted by Mike Bailey of the Psychology Department. Bailey, himself, has been involved in controversy. In 2011, he apologized after allowing two students to perform sex acts in front of a class of 100 students. Kanazawa, in 2016, cited Bailey’s work in a research paper on female sexuality at least five times.
Hollway told Inside Higher Education the Psychology Department was unaware of Kanazawa’s controversial work until after he arrived in September.
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