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Prof Dame Hazel Genn to Chair the Response Group to the Inquiry into the history of Eugenics at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø

19 June 2020

Professor Dame Hazel Genn will chair the Response Group which will produce a formal response to the Inquiry’s recommendations, published in February this year.

Professor Dame Hazel Genn

Professor Dame Hazel Genn, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Laws and Director of the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Centre for Access to Justice has been appointed Chair of the Response Group to the Inquiry into the history of Eugenics at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø.

The Response Group, made up of senior Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø representatives including senior academic staff, equality experts and the Students’ Union, has been formed to consider the recommendations from the Inquiry. The Group will consider action such as establishing new scholarships to study race and racism, a commitment to ensure Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø staff and students learn about the history and legacy of eugenics and the creation of a two-year research post to further examine the university’s history of eugenics.

The Committee will report back with an implementation plan for consideration by Academic Board and approval by Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø’s Council by the start of the next academic year.

Earlier this year, a series of recommendations were published by the ‘Inquiry into the History of Eugenics at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø’, which was led by independent chair Professor Iyiola Solanke (Chair in EU Law and Social Justice at the University of Leeds). The inquiry examined Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø’s historical role in, and the current status of, the teaching and study of the history of eugenics, as well as the current status of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø’s benefit from any financial instruments linked to the study of eugenics.

Following on from this, on 11 June 2020, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø’s President & Provost Professor Michael Arthur formally asked the university’s ‘Buildings Naming and Renaming Committee’ to begin the process of reviewing the current naming of spaces and buildings after two prominent eugenicists. The Committee’s recommendations to the Provost were accepted and approved by Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Council on 18 June 2020 and temporary names announced by the Provost on Friday 19 June 2020.

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