Margaret Mason, principal of St Chads, said that she believed that “Dr Leonard’s comments — as reported — were objectionable and ill judged.”
But the academic hit back, promising in an email to colleagues he would “continue to fight for the freedom of speech and freedom of consciousness that is now threatened in our universities”.
Chris Clarke, the president of Durham Union, told Chronicle Live the tweets reflected “a dangerous set of ideas” and were “effectively inciting individuals to engage with Islamophobic rhetoric.”
But Dr Leonard said his critics’ complaints were “absurd, totally unfounded and deeply upsetting”.
“They are basing their allegations on replies to tweets, taken completely out of context and manipulated to make a case against me,” he said.
Conservatives and Brexiteers like him are being made to feel unwelcome by the college, he protested.
An expert in linguistics and anthropology, he specialises in the study of Scandanavia and was previously a fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge University.
