Scotland’s first black professor accuses Edinburgh academics of racism

Sir Geoff Palmer was asked to quit as chair of two panels reexamining Edinburgh’s involvement in slave trade

Scotland’s first black professor has accused fellow academics of discrimination after an explosive row over Edinburgh’s links with slavery prompted calls for him to quit as chair of two groups reexamining the city’s history.

The row began when Sir Geoff Palmer – who is leading two separate reviews into the city and the university’s involvement in the slave trade – denounced Jonathan Hearn and Sir Tom Devine, current and emeritus professors at Edinburgh University, as members of “an academic racist gang” after Hearn published an article in the Spectator suggesting the city council review risked being “historically superficial” and Devine stepped in to defend him.