[1] In 2013, McGinn resigned from his tenured position at the University of Miami after a graduate student accused him of sexual harassment.
In 1985, he succeeded Gareth Evans as Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy at the University of Oxford, a position he held until 1990.
[1] McGinn resigned his position at the University of Miami in January 2013, effective at the end of the calendar year, after a graduate student complained that he had been sexually harassing her, including by text and email.
[7] Represented by Ann Olivarius, the student complained in April 2014 to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the university had mishandled the case.
[11] The incident triggered a debate about the extent to which sexism remains prevalent in academia, particularly in academic philosophy, and the effect on students and teachers of harassment and harassment-related complaints.
[17] Mark Rowlands writes that the 1989 article was largely responsible for reviving the debate about phenomenal consciousness, or the nature of experience.
[23] McGinn is a supporter of animal rights, calling our treatment of non-humans "deeply and systematically immoral.
But "their esse is not human percipi" – "The rhino looks at us with the same skewed solipsism we bring to him," McGinn writes, "and surely we do not want to be as limited in our outlook as he is."
The next year, he and Sir Andrew Huxley debated animal rights with Bernard Williams as the moderator.
[29] He has also appeared in 11 episodes of Closer to Truth hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, discussing consciousness, personal identity, free will, and materialism.
[30] Jess Swanson, "On the Eve of Her Departure, Donna Shalala's Principles Questioned", Miami New Times, 22 May 2015.
Jess Swanson, "UM Sued Over Colin McGinn Philosophy Department Sexual Harassment Scandal", Miami New Times, 20 October 2015.
Jennifer Schuessler, "A Star Philosopher Falls, and a Debate Over Sexism Is Set Off", The New York Times, 2 August 2013.
Tyler Kingkade, "Professor Accused Of Harassment Is Gone, But Debate Isn't Over", The Huffington Post, 21 October 2015.