Queen Mary Uni Academics Denied Promotion if They Oppose DEI
Academics at Queen Mary University of London have been denied promotion for opposing the concept of ‘unconscious bias’ in a mandatory training course that tests them on the conformity of their belief with the ideology
The Telegraph has the story.
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) only promotes those who pass a training course that requires participants to express agreement with the contested concept.
Unconscious bias is the idea that hidden prejudices may influence behaviour and decision-making, and has been popularised in initiatives to promote ‘diversity, equality and inclusion‘.
However, critics argue that the concept is flawed because it would not be possible to identify truly unconscious biases.
All applicants for promotion at the university must first have “completed all mandatory and refresher training”, according to its Academic Promotion 2025-26 Applicant’s Statement document.
This includes a “What is Unconscious Bias?” module, which cannot be passed without completing a quiz whose questions require participants to express agreement with the concept.
Participants can only achieve a pass mark if they select answers including the assertions that it “will help” if they “accept that we have unconscious biases” and that it is “true” that “unconscious biases help us to react quickly but can cloud our judgement”.
One academic told the Telegraph that the university’s policy promoted “ideological conformity” and was tantamount to “compelled speech”.
“It is extraordinary that a university should force its academics to affirm scientifically contested claims as though they were articles of faith,” the academic said. “This is the sort of ideological conformity we ought to associate with authoritarian regimes, not British universities.”
The academic added: “Academics at Queen Mary cannot apply for promotion unless they have passed all mandatory training modules, including this one. I know multiple people who have either refused to carry out the ‘compelled speech’ struggle session, and thus cannot get promoted, or have given the officially approved answers in violation of their own convictions.
“This training amounts to an ideological loyalty oath. A university that makes academic promotion conditional on ideological conformity does not understand the difference between scholarship and indoctrination.
“The whole affair represents a grotesque inversion of what universities are supposed to stand for. The defining mission of a university is the pursuit of truth. Yet here we have a university demanding that academics swear fealty to some particular ideological positions, with career consequences for those who refuse.”
The Committee for Academic Freedom (CAF), a campaign group, has written to the university expressing concern about the policy, which it says prevents those who disagree with unconscious bias from being promoted.
See more here dailysceptic.org
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Header image: Queen Mary University of London