University of Cambridge

(17.10.25) Dr Nathan Cofnas was a research associate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and a Leverhulme early career fellow. He wrote a blog post in February 2024 in which he advocated for “race realism” and claimed that it is a “scientific fact” that certain racial groups, including black people, are genetically predisposed to be less intelligent to the point that “In a meritocracy… [b]lacks would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”. As a result of the blog post, he lost his position at Emmanuel College, and was placed under a separate investigation by the university’s disciplinary body.

Cambridge has on the 2nd October 2025, cleared Cofnas of all the charges against him. Cofnas’ blog post is a good example of the extreme end of lawful speech, and was therefore an important test case for how Cambridge and other universities will respond to the coming into force of HEFSA. His acquittal is a significant (if uncomfortable) success for free speech protection, to which we believe AFFS contributed.