The course on students’ moodle webpage also claims systemic racism is “built into the very building blocks of British society”, including schools, courts and churches.

It adds that some ethnic minorities engage in “white ideology” to benefit from the power “whiteness” brings.

Lecturers have been told in an internal email: “We expect all students, regardless of programme, level or site of study, to complete the module.

“It introduces students to the culture and expectations we have at Kent in terms of respectful behaviour and discussion, and also helps to increase students’ awareness and understanding about a variety of different themes and nuances in relation to equality, diversity and inclusivity.”

Staff have also been emailed by faculty managers to consider adding trigger warnings to exam papers, and carry out “pronoun checks, make a note of them and use them correctly” when meeting new students, such as they/them or ze/zir.

Philistine and irresponsible

However, it has sparked a furious backlash from professors, who told The Telegraph they are refusing to comply and branded it a “philistine” betrayal of academia’s core values.

“I’ve said I’m not going to do it (add trigger warnings or decolonise reading lists) and I’m not going to tell students to do this module either,” said Ellie Lee, a professor of family and parenting research at Kent, adding “quite a lot” of colleagues had followed suit.