Frank Ellis

From the Department of Extremely-Late-Breaking News:

A short while ago, in an attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record for ‘Number of Missing Premises in a Completely Batshit Political Argument’, a Yanqui fascist claimed on my blog that “the anarchists disagree with [“allowing so much community freedom to exist in an anarchist society”] to the point of calling for my murder lest other people should decide how they want to live for themselves. In that sense they adhere strictly to the Frankfurt school of Marxism on social issues”. So: Frankfurt School = Bad. Why Frankfurt School = Bad? Frankfurt School = Marxist. Marxist = Bad. Marxist want destroy Western Civilization. Frankfurt School use:

Political Correctness… Multiculturalism… Militant feminism… Campus speech codes… Affirmative action… “Tolerance and Diversity”… Sensitivity Training… Assisted Suicide… Selectively Applied “Hate Crime” Laws… [Et cetera] The roots of this phenomenon can be traced to a little known movement transplanted from 1930’s Germany to the United States called the Frankfurt School. The principle advocates were Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Walter Benjamin.

Well, that’s what an American reactionary reckons anyway. Reading Darrin Hodges’ blog (rarely a pleasant experience), I discovered a link to this gem: ‘Multiculturalism and Marxism: An Englishman Looks at the Soviet Origins of Political Correctness’ by Frank Ellis. (Originally published in Vol 10, No. 11 (November 1999) of Jared Taylor‘s American Renaissance zine.) Ellis casts his net a lot wider; the culprit is not just Marxists of teh Frankfurt School, but (Soviet) Marxism: “Today’s “political correctness” is the direct descendent [sic] of Communist terror and brainwashing”. And so on and so forth. But who is Frank Ellis?

The endnote to his essay on Marx the Multiculturalist reveals that “Frank Ellis is professor of Russian at the University of Leeds in England”. Curious, I Googled ‘Frank Ellis’ and discovered that, as well as being very worried about the menace of Marxist-inspired multiculturalism, Frank was the subject of disciplinary proceedings at Leeds University before he retired. According to the BBC, “A Leeds University lecturer, Frank Ellis, took early retirement this year before a disciplinary hearing over his comments that there was evidence to suggest white people had higher IQ levels than black people”. (The article itself was titled ‘Time to Face the Truth about Multiculturalism’.)

Earlier (July 12, 2006) the BBC reported:

A lecturer at the centre of a race row has retired early from his post at Leeds University. Dr Frank Ellis sparked protests from students after he said that, on average, black people are less intelligent than white people. He was suspended earlier this year while the university began disciplinary proceedings against him. More than 500 students signed a petition asking for the Russian Studies lecturer to be sacked. In a statement, the university said Dr Ellis left on 30 June…

Tutor defends ‘racist’ stance (March 8, 2006):

The Leeds University academic at the centre of a racism row has defended his view that black people have a lower average IQ than white people. Dr Frank Ellis, a Russian tutor, says data stretching back 100 years points to a “persistent deviation” in the average IQ of black and white people. More than 500 students have signed a petition calling for him to be sacked. Leeds University said his views were “abhorrent” but there was no evidence he had discriminated against students…

Students stage demo against tutor (March 16, 2006):

Students from the University of Leeds have demonstrated against a lecturer who claims black people have a genetically lower IQ than white people. Dr Frank Ellis, a Russian tutor, said data stretching back 100 years pointed to a “persistent deviation” in the average IQ of black and white people. The Students’ Union claim Dr Ellis has breeched requirements for staff to promote equality and want him sacked. More than 200 students gathered at the city campus to make their views known. Dr Ellis has expressed support for the Bell Curve theory, examined in a book by Richard Hernnstein and Charles Murray, which concludes that ethnicity can play a part in IQ levels…

Racism row lecturer is suspended (March 23, 2006):

Dr Frank Ellis was suspended from his post as a lecturer at Leeds University pending disciplinary procedures. The university emphasised that the suspension was not itself a penalty but said it had been deemed appropriate given “the seriousness of the issues”. The lecturer in Russian and Slavonic Studies told a student newspaper there was a “persistent gap” in IQ levels. More than 500 students signed a petition calling for him to be sacked. Many of them later demonstrated in Leeds against his views. Leeds University had previously said that those views were “abhorrent” but there was no evidence he had discriminated against students…

The Frank Ellis saga has obvious parallels in Australia with that of former Macquarie University academic Andrew Fraser, not only in terms of both having adopted ‘controversial’ positions on the relationship between race and intelligence, on the one hand, and race and criminality, on the other, but in terms of their sharing a political perspective with US-based racialists at the quasi-respectable end of the white supremacist spectrum. Notably, such rhetoric, especially in the hands of populist politicians, can be used to great effect. One recent example is that of former Tory Minister Kevin Andrews, who justified his decision to halt the refugee intake from Africa on the grounds that they was more likely to be criminals. Well, maybe ‘not-so-great’ effect, as November’s election result suggests…

Some further discussion of the subject of academic freedom in the UK is centred around a mob called Academics for Academic Freedom. Note that there is no Constitutionally-protected right to ‘free speech’ in Australia.

See also : Campus Watch | Defend our universities! [sic] | ‘The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America’, David Horowitz, FrontPageMagazine.com, February 10, 2006