Whistleblowers have accused Edinburgh University of discriminating against "non-black students" after a race report recommended more scholarships for ethnic minorities.
The group, which have identified themselves as academics from the institution, hit back at a review which had been commissioned by university management saying white working-class boys remain the least likely group to complete their studies.
A statement issued by the group, which calls itself Edinburgh Academics 4 Free Speech and is said to represent 130 members of staff, said: "The University already discriminate against non-black students by allowing race-base scholarships."
One such scheme which they gave as an example was the Andrea Levy Scholarship, in memory of the novelist and is directed to those of a black African or Caribbean background.
Their statement continued: "Many colleagues have raised concerns directly with [university principal] Professor Mathieson, arguing that as an evidence-based organisation which should use empirical data to inform its policies, the university should be funding those students which research shows are most excluded from higher education.
"Countless studies have shown that white working-class boys remain the most academically disadvantaged group in the UK."
According to Department for Education statistics, university participation grew 21 per cent faster for Asian students, and 17 per cent faster for black students compare with white students.
While the group said its members needed to stay anonymous, one vocal critic of the University's review has been Sir Tom Devine.
While the group said its members needed to stay anonymous, one vocal critic of the University's review has been Sir Tom Devine
|GETTY
He said: "This report has the very real potential to damage the university's historic reputation when it is already experiencing criticisms over its financial management."
The historian and emeritus Edinburgh University professor continued: "Therefore, crucially, careful consideration of the review's controversial content should first have been considered by acknowledged representatives of the university community and not confined only to the principle and hid coterie before any major public statements were made."
The findings of the review, which was ordered in 2021 by university leaders amid the Black Lives Matter outcry, were finally made public this week.
Its suggestions included 46 recommendations like renaming buildings and creating of scholarship programmes to support students from underrepresented ethnic groups.
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Whistleblowers have accused Edinburgh University of discriminating against 'non-black students'
|WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The review also said one of the University's most celebrated moral philosophers and mathematicians, Dugald Stewart, taught thousands of students that white Europeans were racially superior.
Principal Mathieson described the publication of the review as a "landmark moment".
However, Edinburgh Academics 4 Free Speech also highlighted the case of Neil Thin, a senior tutor who was falsely accused of being racist after opposing the renaming of the David Hume Tower over Hume's slavery links.
Devine said it was crucial that the university senate and court was fully-informed and the wider views of the university community to be considered in order to move forward.
Fiona McClement, the university's head of equality, diversity and inclusion, said: "We want to ensure that are a welcoming and nurturing environment in which all members of our community feel a sense of belonging, and can flourish and succeed without facing unjust racialised barriers."