UK: New college professor complains of abuse

Professor AC Grayling has spoken of how he has become a figure of vitriol among students and the academic establishment after announcing plans to establish a for-profit private university, writes Shiv Malik for The Guardian.

The philosophy professor, who resigned from Birkbeck College to set up the New College of the Humanities, which plans to charge fees of £18,000 (US$29,300) a year, said his institution had become a lightning conductor for anger against education cuts. Last week, students at a talk in central London jeered and shouted down Grayling as he attempted to explain why he was setting up his university college, which plans to award external degrees from the University of London. The meeting ended prematurely when a smoke bomb was lit and the room had to be evacuated.

A broad spectrum of academics have also criticised the new college, but Grayling said suggestions that his university would rival Oxbridge were overblown and untrue. He said the high-profile lecturers the college has attracted, including historian Niall Ferguson and scientists Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins, would share in the profits of the company but not make up the college's core staff.
Full report on The Guardian site