Quote from RCG Trader:
âHeâs the end of an era of academic racists of his style and notoriety,â Barry Mehler, professor of history and director of the Institute for the Study of Academic Racism at Ferris State University in Michigan, said today. âI donât think weâll see that again.ââ
Thatâs not to say that academic racism has died, only its most prominent elder.
Rushton taught psychology at the University of Western Ontario for 25 years and began his academic career investigating the basis of altruism â why one person sometimes aids another, even at personal risk. But it was in the fields of biology and genetics, academic disciplines unrelated to his training, that Rushton made his biggest mark â and left his largest stain.
Rushtonâs infamous theory about race and intelligence can be summed up in two words: size matters.
He postulated that brain and genital size are inversely related, implying that whites are more intelligent than blacks and that Asians are the smartest of all.
Saying that Rushtonâs ideas were âmonstrousâ and âsimply do not qualify as science,â David Suzuki, an actual geneticist, debated Rushton on the Western Ontario campus in 1989 before 2,000 students and more than 100 reporters and television crews. Security was tight inside and out of the auditorium.
âI did not want to be here,â Suzuki told the audience. âI do not believe that we should dignify this man and his ideas in public debate.â A few minutes later, he added, âThere will always be Rushtons in the world. We must be prepared to root them out.â