Authoritarianism, political discrimination, and self-censorship are rife in British universities and have thrown academic freedom into a crisis of cancel culture, a landmark study revealed on Monday. The discrimination, mainly experienced by conservative academics, manifests as “hard authoritarianism,” and involves “no-platforming, dismissal campaigns, social media mob attacks, open letters … formal complaints, and disciplinary action,” according to the research from the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI). It is mainly perpetrated by “a subgroup of illiberal far-left activist staff and students,” said the study, titled “Academic Freedom in Crisis: Punishment, Political Discrimination, and Self-Censorship, which also covers the United States and Canada. The research, the first of its kind looking at professors and lecturers as well as Ph.D. and masters’ students found that “soft authoritarianism,” is also at work in universities. This type of discrimination affects “hiring, promotion, grant applications, publishing, the allocation of teaching and research …