The University of Illinois canceled a scheduled talk by Nobel Laureate James Watson after professors complained about his allegedly controversial views on race.
Watson, one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, was invited by the University of Illinois' Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology to give a “narrowly focused scientific talk” about his cancer research.
According to the News-Gazette, the talk was canceled shortly after “several professors” complained about some of Watson’s previous comments on the topic of race. One professor in particular flooded Twitter with her objections to Watson’s talk.
In a series of tweets, Kathryn Clancy, an associate professor in the anthropology department at UI, decried Watson was a racist. She also diminished Watson’s scientific contributions by asserting “moral character and ethics matter more than science.”
Shortly after Clancy began her rant, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology responded by saying they took her opinions “very seriously” and, “in light” of her aired grievances, they cancelced the talk:
Clancy gloated about her role in Watson’s speech being canceled, claiming the director wrote to her personally to tell her the event was canceled.
Even though Watson apologized for some of his reportedly controversial remarks before, Clancy reportedly objected that he “didn't apologize for everything.”
“This is a guy who has a lot to be apologetic for. He does not really deserve a pre-eminent public university like our's sponsoring him for any sort of talk,” she told the News-Gazette.
Gene Robinson, the director of the Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, told the News-Gazette, “We tried to consider this very carefully in going forward, and different perspectives on the possibilities of him giving a science-based lecture.”
“With respect to his past, the email that I sent out stated very clearly that we didn't condone any of his past comments, racist comments and sexist comments. And we noted that he had apologized and thought about all those very carefully,” Robinson explained.
"In hearing the faculty's concerns, we decided that the right thing to do was not to have the lecture,” he concluded.
In 2016, New York University also disinvited Watson because of outrage over his comments on race.
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