Things were to escalate further with Brand revelling in being a scientific racist in the pages of The Independent in April 1996, stating, ‘It is scientific fact that black Americans are less intelligent than white Americans and the IQ of Asians is higher than blacks.’ and, ‘I am perfectly proud to be a racist in the scientific sense.’
The students’ response was to walk out of his classes, begin a boycott of them, and send a letter of complaint to the then departmental head, Robert Grieve. The University responded that, as Brand’s views were inside the law, they would not act. This parallels the Stock situation, where students and others attempted to use internal procedures to raise their concerns but to no avail.
The University’s Student newspaper, The Student, responded with an article titled ‘SACK HIM! – Student fury as Uni backs ‘racist’ lecturer’ and the Student Representative Council passed a motion calling for Brand’s dismissal. The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) held a rally in support of these calls.
Brand did draw some support, most notably from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), the forerunners of today’s Spiked, who tried to stage a debate between Brand and their own Kenan Malik during the Edinburgh Festival. A picket by the ANL saw the event cancelled...
In November, Brand came out in support of paedophile Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, stating, ‘Non-violent paedophilia with a consenting partner over age 12 does no harm so long as the paedophiles and the partners are of above average IQ and educational level.’ This time, the University did act and Brand was suspended.
By February 1997, it was rumoured that Brand, with RCP backing, was to be nominated to stand for Rector of the University.
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