University Had 'Outsized' Role in Creation of Racist Theories, Inquiry Finds

The University of Edinburgh, one of the UK's oldest and most prestigious educational institutions, played an "outsized" role in the creation of racist scientific theories and greatly profited from transatlantic slavery, a landmark inquiry into its history has found.

- Severin Carrell Chris Osuh

The university raised the equivalent of at least £30m from former students and donors who had links to the enslavement of African peoples, the plantation economy and exploitative wealth-gathering throughout the British empire, according to the findings of an official investigation seen by the Guardian.

The inquiry found that Edinburgh became a "haven" for professors who developed theories of white supremacism in the 18th and 19th centuries, and who played a pivotal role in the creation of discredited "racial pseudo-sciences" that placed Africans at the bottom of a racial hierarchy.

It reveals the ancient university – which was established in the 16th century – still had bequests worth £9.4m that came directly from donors linked to enslavement, colonial conquests and those pseudo-sciences, and which funded lectures, medals and fellowships that continue today.

Sir Peter Mathieson, the university's principal, who commissioned the investigation, said its findings were "hard to read" but that Edinburgh could not have a "selective memory" about its history and achievements.

In an official statement, Mathieson extended the university's deepest apologies for "its role not only in profiting materially from practices and systems that caused so much suffering but also in contributing to the production and perpetuation of racialised thought which significantly impacted ethnically and racially minoritised communities".

The investigation also found that:

• The university had explicitly sought donations from graduates linked to transatlantic slavery to help build two of its most famous buildings, Old College on South Bridge in the 1790s and the old medical school near Bristo Square in the 1870s.

• The donations were equivalent to about £30m in today's prices, or the higher figure of £202m based on the growth of wages since they were received, and as much as £845m based on economic growth since then.