Now Reading: Cambridge hires academic who backed banned terror group
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Cambridge hires academic who backed banned terror group
Cambridge University appointed Farah Ahmed as an assistant research professor at its Faculty of Education last year, despite her past support for Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group proscribed in Britain. In a…
The Story in Brief
Cambridge University appointed Farah Ahmed as an assistant research professor at its Faculty of Education last year, despite her past support for Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group proscribed in Britain. In a 2002 pamphlet for the group, republished in 2017, Ahmed described Western education as a threat to Muslim beliefs and condemned democracy as a corrupt tradition.
Ahmed, who now teaches undergraduates and supervises postgraduate research, also criticised British schools for teaching that child marriage and polygamy are wrong. A Cambridge spokesperson defended the appointment, citing the faculty's commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law. Ahmed stated in 2010 that she was no longer a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The Indian Opinion
The usual gymnastics have begun: this is academic freedom, not extremism. But freedom of speech does not require a university to employ someone who wrote that Western education is a threat and democracy is corrupt. Cambridge can defend robust debate without giving a platform to views that demonise pluralism itself. The test is what Ahmed teaches now, not what she wrote in 2002. Will the faculty release her current syllabus and lecture materials?
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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