Cambridge University discriminates against white, conservative men, an Oxford academic has claimed.

Professor Nigel Biggar said Cambridge has done “serious damage” to its reputation as well as intellectual freedom.

A spokesman for the university said it utterly refuted the claims.

Prof Biggar's controversial work on the legacy of colonialism has previously been the subject of protests by fellow academics.

The University of Oxford academic incited fresh anger on Friday after comparing Cambridge’s handling of Professor Jordan Peterson with that of one of its own academics, Dr Priyamvada Gopal.

View photos Prof Biggar called the university's treatment of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson (pictured) as More

Writing in the Oxford Magazine, Prof Biggar said the Canadian psychologist was treated in a “grossly discourteous” and “humiliating” way.

Prof Peterson was awarded a visiting fellowship by Cambridge before having it rescinded in April.

At the time, the psychologist accused Cambridge of being “unprofessional” after he found out he was being stripped of his fellowship due to complaints from the student union.

In the past, Prof Peterson has argued for enforced monogamy, the view that men are victims of gender discrimination, and said that the idea of white privilege is a “Marxist lie.”

There are others who don't even have the limited social media access that someone like me has somehow managed to build up. What then? These power imbalances are so profoundly built in to bullying, harassment, stalking, racism, sexism etc. — Priyamvada Gopal (@PriyamvadaGopal) 31 May 2019

Prof Biggar, who is head of Oxford’s McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, is currently leading a study on “Ethics and the Empire” which analyses the impact of Britain’s imperial past.

He said that he complained to the Master of Churchill College about Dr Gopal’s attacking of the project on social media.

However, he said the university stood by her right to make the remarks on social media.

Prof Biggar then compared the two episodes, claiming it showed that Cambridge “does in fact discriminate on the unjustifiable grounds of race, gender, and above all morals and politics”.

He said: “If you’re non-white, female, and aggressively ‘woke’, then you’ll be accorded maximal benefit of doubt, given a pass on official norms of civility, and let free to spit hatred and contempt on social media.

“However, if you’re white, male, culturally conservative, and given to expressing reasoned doubt about prevailing mores, you’ll be given no benefit of doubt at all.

“And, should you do so much as appear to transgress ill-conceived norms of inclusiveness, you’ll be summarily and rudely excluded.”

Dr Gopal called the article a “tedious bore” on Twitter, adding that she was not available for comment.

She also wrote: “These power imbalances are so profoundly built in to bullying, harassment, stalking, racism, sexism ect.”

A Cambridge University spokesperson said: “We recognise Nigel Biggar’s right to hold views on Cambridge in relation to discrimination against white, male, conservative men, which are claims which we refute utterly.”