Leicester University denies it is dropping Chaucer for being ‘too white’ after proposing modules on race and sexuality instead
- University courses featuring The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf are under threat
- English department told of plans for a ‘decolonised’ curriculum via email
- Uni today moved to deny Chaucer course was axed for being ‘too white’
- But added that it wanted its teaching to cater to the students’ own interests
Leicester University has denied it is dropping literary giant Geoffrey Chaucer for being ‘too white’ after proposing replacement modules focused on race and gender.
Plans have emerged to shelve The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf – two of the most important works in English literature – in favour of texts that ‘students expect.’
Management told staff that it wanted to scrap the centuries-old foundational works as it moved to a ‘decolonised’ curriculum.
But Leicester told MailOnline the changes had nothing to do with the texts being ‘too white’ but that it was keen to engage with ‘our students’ own interests and enthusiasms.’
Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, is called the Father of English Literature
Epic poem Beowolf is also set to be phased according to the new University proposals
An email circulated to tutors and lecturers said they would be a history of writing, taking in course elements on ‘race, ethnicity, sexuality and diversity’.
Today the university insisted to MailOnline the change came after feedback from students.
A spokesperson said: ‘Students at the University of Leicester will continue to study some of the best-loved authors in the English language, from Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens to Keats, Shelley and Byron, to Woolf, Toni Morrison and Colston Whitehead.
‘There is absolutely no truth to the suggestion that certain modules are being eliminated for being ‘too white’.
‘We want to offer courses that match our students’ own interests and enthusiasms, as reflected in their own choices and the feedback we have been hearing.
‘Leicester continues to be a research-intensive, comprehensive university that offers a broad range of subjects. We will be engaging closely with staff and students to hear their ideas and suggestions in response to the proposals.’
The University of Leicester has denied the changes are because they are ‘too white’
The new teaching plans, which were leaked to the Telegraph, said: ‘The aim of our proposals is to offer a suite of undergraduate degrees that provide modules which students expect of an English degree.’
New modules described as ‘excitingly innovative’ were billed as covering ‘A chronological literary history, a selection of modules on race, ethnicity, sexuality and diversity, a decolonised curriculum, and new employability modules.’
It continued to say it could stop all English language courses and axe medieval literature.