UK university’s axing of black studies MA has ‘dangerous parallel’ with US, says academic

A leading US civil rights scholar has urged Birmingham City University (BCU) to reverse its decision to close its black studies course, comparing it with the attack on diversity, equity and inclusion in the US.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles and Columbia University, expressed “profound concern” about plans to withdraw the MA in black studies and global justice, just months after the course was launched.

In a statement shared on social media during her UK book tour, Crenshaw called the decision an “escalating assault on Black Studies” and an “ideological, extremist-led campaign that has now explicitly travelled across the Atlantic”.

Crenshaw said: “The systematic dismantling of Black studies in the United States is mirroring a dangerous parallel in the United Kingdom, where the discipline now faces the threat of total erasure.

“It remains absolutely essential that the truth regarding the history, contributions, perspectives and lived experiences of Black people in Britain and across the global diaspora is preserved, taught and championed.”

She described Black studies as an “essential space of critical inquiry” and said the community built around the subject at BCU was “globally renowned”.

The course is due to be withdrawn from September after a review of the university’s postgraduate portfolio. BCU has said the decision was driven by low student recruitment, with just eight students currently enrolled on the course.

The decision follows the controversial closure of the university’s undergraduate Black studies programme in 2024, and has prompted warnings from academics that Black scholarship is being disproportionately affected by cost-cutting measures across higher education.

Crenshaw said: “This dismantling is not merely an institutional realignment; it is a direct attack on the production of critical knowledge.”

Prof Kehinde Andrews, a leading commentator who pioneered the programme, previously told the Guardian that staff and students were given no meaningful opportunity to challenge the decision.

An open letter calling for the closure to be reconsidered has attracted support from academics, politicians and cultural figures including Prof Kalawant Bhopal, Akala, Yomi Adegoke, and Marsha de Cordova.

A spokesperson for BCU previously said that a small number of postgraduate courses would be cut because of low demand, but that existing students would be able to complete their studies. The university also said it was consulting affected staff and “exploring opportunities for alternative provision”.