A debate between a Saint Mary's University professor and a self-described "race realist" is too risky to hold on campus, administrators say.

University officials said Monday they decided to cancel Tuesday's debate between Peter March, a philosophy professor, and U.S. author Jared Taylor because of a threat on a website.

According to the posting, somebody would be stabbed if the event went ahead, said Chuck Bridges, a Saint Mary's spokesman.

"The feedback and the information that our security people received caused them to say that this is a very high-risk situation," he told CBC News.

Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance magazine, says immigration leads to violence and conflict, and claims intelligence, sexual promiscuity and criminality are linked to race.

Protesters in masks disrupted his speech at the Lord Nelson hotel in Halifax in January.

Taylor had been scheduled to debate David Divine, a professor at Dalhousie University, that month but Divine cancelled after reading about his opponent's views.

When the professor at Saint Mary's announced the debate in February, the university said it wasn't sponsoring the event and said March was responsible for all costs, including security and cleanup.

The school will reimburse March for any related expenses, officials said Monday.

March said he was very upset that the university cancelled the event at the last minute and found it disturbing that a publicly owned institution was not willing to host a public debate.

He is looking for another venue off-campus.

March is no stranger to controversy. There were protests and demonstrations after he posted caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed on his office door in the spring of 2006.

The publication of the caricatures in some newspapers and magazines had spurred mass protests and sometimes violence in countries around the world.