Lancaster University revokes David Starkey’s degree after race row

Historian David Starkey has had his honorary degree from Lancaster University revoked after he claimed slavery wasn’t a form of genocide as “so many damn blacks” had survived it.

Following outrage online at Starkey’s comments, including criticism from ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid, the historian had several of his other positions revoked from other universities around the country before Lancaster took action this morning.

After Starkey was dropped by his publisher and lost his other roles, he issued an apology – an apology that some have described as “grovelling” and “as disturbing as his original statement.”

Since then, a petition was created on Change.org for Lancaster University to follow suit and revoke his honorary degree from the institution, around the same time Lancaster announced it was “reviewing” his graduate status.

Now, Lancaster University has officially revoked Starkey’s honorary degree, saying: “Lancaster’s Investigating Committee unanimously concluded that the honorary award was no longer valid due to comments made by David Starkey in a media interview, which the Committee judged to be racist and contradictory to the values of the University.

“The panel further found that the comments made by Dr Starkey meant he could no longer be regarded as an appropriate role model for current and future students of Lancaster.”

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