Dr. Jordan Peterson accepts appointment as Chancellor of Ralston College in Georgia

Dr. Jordan Peterson announced Thursday that he accepted an appointment as the Chancellor of Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia. Ralston described Peterson as "a distinguished scholar and psychologist, a renowned defender of freedom of thought and speech, and a teacher and mentor to millions around the world."

Peterson posted the announcement to Twitter and said, "With the efforts of the very able president Dr. Stephen Blackwood we hope to fashion a truly classic liberal arts institution."

In an announcement, Ralston said Peterson was "a tireless defender of free thought, free speech, and conscientious action; and a passionate advocate of the true and beautiful things that those free acts can attain. A brilliant interpreter of Western culture and a mentor to the millions of students whom the modern university has betrayed, Dr. Peterson understands the transformative power of human civilization and the unique nourishment that its cultural treasures afford."

"Dr. Peterson has been an eloquent advocate for and a fearless champion of the ideals that have, for centuries, been central to the enterprise of university education. At Ralston College, he joins a community dedicated to the revival and reinvention of the university and to the recovery of these ideals."

According to the college, "As Chancellor, Dr. Peterson is the formal and ceremonial head of Ralston College. The most ancient role at the university—with its origins in the Middle Ages—the Chancellor is both a symbol and a guardian: a symbol of continuity with centuries of artistic creation and philosophical reflection; of intellectual community and discovery; and a guardian of the freedoms on which these depend, of the activities that sustain them, and of the ceremonies that crown them. Above all, the Chancellorship advances the university's most fundamental aim: to kindle and enlarge the human spirit."

Peterson was quoted by the college as saying, "The university is about the beauty that is eternal. That is not optional; it’s not impractical—it’s that upon which practicality itself is predicated. That is the university."

In 2019, Peterson and the founder of Ralston College Stephen Blackwood filmed a discussion entitled, Higher Ed & Our Cultural Inflection Point, about "Solzhenitsyn, our cultural inflection point, higher education and the hunger of the young for meaning."

In January, Peterson resigned from his tenured post at the University of Toronto due to "...the appalling ideology of diversity, inclusion is demolishing education and business."

In an essay in the National Post, Peterson said that he "loved" his job, and had a good rapport with students and that he "can now teach many more people and with less interference online."

He also wrote that his white male students are likely going to be unable to find work in their fields, despite being highly qualified which Peterson wrote is "partly because of Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity mandates."

Peterson, who calls this "DIE" as opposed to the "DEI" that is commonly seen, said that these dictates, as well as the fact that he is an "academic persona non grata" make it difficult to try and education students while knowing "their employment prospects to be minimal."

Peterson believes that these "DIE" initiatives will create "a generation of researchers utterly unqualified for the job. And we’ve seen what that means already in the horrible grievance studies "disciplines." That, combined with the death of objective testing, has compromised the universities so badly that it can hardly be overstated. And what happens in the universities eventually colours everything."