from ‘cancellation’ at one of London’s institutions

[GoodTaste]

In February, the nineteenth-century naturalist Thomas Henry Huxley, escaped — in the eyes of some — from ‘cancellation’ at one of London’s most prestigious academic institutions. Huxley, a prominent advocate of Darwin’s theory of natural selection, promoted the racist view that Black people had inferior capabilities compared with white people.
Source: Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03253-y


It seems to me that cancellation here means the action of canceling class or seminar. Am I on the right track?

 

[5jj]

No.

Read about Cancel Culture here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture

 

[GoodTaste]

No.

Read about Cancel Culture here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture

So "escaped from ‘cancellation’ at one of London’s most prestigious academic institutions" means "did not get thrust out of social or professional circles of one of London’s most prestigious academic institutions"?

 

[5jj]

Actually, he escaped from having his name stripped from the mathematics and computing department building, and his bust removed from the entrance hall.

 

[Barque]

It seems to me that cancellation here means the action of canceling class or seminar. Am I on the right track?

The answer to what cancellation means here is in the very next sentence of the paragraph, the one that 5jj paraphrased.

A report prepared in November 2021 by a team of faculty members and internal and external advisers at Imperial College London had recommended stripping Huxley’s name from the mathematics and computing department building, and removing his bust from the entrance hall.

 

[Tdol]

Surely, they should cancel the name of the University for its colonial message if they're going down that path.