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#BattleFest2015: Campus Wars - safe or sanitised?
From the Battle of Ideas 2015
Last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of
the launch of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of
California, Berkeley, through which academics and students successfully
overturned the censorious policies of university management. Against the
backdrop of McCarthyism, the FSM ushered in a new era of student
activism across the US and Europe, with free speech at its heart. So it
is striking that today, student radicals appear to be at the forefront
of calling for restrictions on what they and their fellow students are
allowed to say, read and hear.
In February, the online magazine spiked launched the UK’s
first Free Speech University Rankings. It found that 80 per cent of
universities censored speech, and that the vast majority of this was
carried out by students’ unions. No Platform policies, which originally
banned fascist speakers, are now used to ‘protect’ students from a wide
range of controversial ideas, and not only right-wing ones; even
feminist speakers have been disinvited because some students objected to
their views. At the other end of the spectrum laddish comedian Dapper
Laughs was banned from Cardiff University after campaigners claimed he
promoted ‘rape culture’. And last October, a high-profile debate on
abortion was cancelled at Christ Church, Oxford, after protesters
claimed the discussion would harm the emotional wellbeing of female
students and make them feel ‘unsafe’.
One former student union president has argued that while inviting
speakers is not in itself an endorsement, it could be seen as
‘legitimating their views as something that’s up for discussion’. Should
some issues be seen as beyond discussion, if discussing them is likely
to upset students? Toni Pearce, the current president of the National
Union of Students, has declared: ‘I’m really proud that our movement
takes safe spaces seriously.’ But should safety on campus really extend
to protection from emotional as well as physical harm? Or should
students be expected to cope with controversial ideas. Should campuses
be bastions of open debate, where anything goes, or does creating ‘safe
spaces’ actually allow many vulnerable students more opportunity to
speak their minds? Is this trend exclusive to campus life, or are
student leaders responding to a wider censorious culture? And what is
the future of student politics, now that spirit of the Free Speech
Movement seems a distant memory?
Speakers
Ian Dunt
editor, Politics.co.uk; political editor, Erotic Review
Christina Hoff Sommers
writer and resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute; host, weekly video series, The Factual Feminist
Gia Milinovich
producer, broadcaster, professional dork
Tom Slater
deputy editor, spiked; coordinator, Down With Campus Censorship!
Chair
Ella Whelan
staff writer, spiked; writer, Spectator
View all episodes
By academyofideas
3.9
77 ratings
From the Battle of Ideas 2015
Last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of
the launch of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of
California, Berkeley, through which academics and students successfully
overturned the censorious policies of university management. Against the
backdrop of McCarthyism, the FSM ushered in a new era of student
activism across the US and Europe, with free speech at its heart. So it
is striking that today, student radicals appear to be at the forefront
of calling for restrictions on what they and their fellow students are
allowed to say, read and hear.
In February, the online magazine spiked launched the UK’s
first Free Speech University Rankings. It found that 80 per cent of
universities censored speech, and that the vast majority of this was
carried out by students’ unions. No Platform policies, which originally
banned fascist speakers, are now used to ‘protect’ students from a wide
range of controversial ideas, and not only right-wing ones; even
feminist speakers have been disinvited because some students objected to
their views. At the other end of the spectrum laddish comedian Dapper
Laughs was banned from Cardiff University after campaigners claimed he
promoted ‘rape culture’. And last October, a high-profile debate on
abortion was cancelled at Christ Church, Oxford, after protesters
claimed the discussion would harm the emotional wellbeing of female
students and make them feel ‘unsafe’.
One former student union president has argued that while inviting
speakers is not in itself an endorsement, it could be seen as
‘legitimating their views as something that’s up for discussion’. Should
some issues be seen as beyond discussion, if discussing them is likely
to upset students? Toni Pearce, the current president of the National
Union of Students, has declared: ‘I’m really proud that our movement
takes safe spaces seriously.’ But should safety on campus really extend
to protection from emotional as well as physical harm? Or should
students be expected to cope with controversial ideas. Should campuses
be bastions of open debate, where anything goes, or does creating ‘safe
spaces’ actually allow many vulnerable students more opportunity to
speak their minds? Is this trend exclusive to campus life, or are
student leaders responding to a wider censorious culture? And what is
the future of student politics, now that spirit of the Free Speech
Movement seems a distant memory?
Speakers
Ian Dunt
editor, Politics.co.uk; political editor, Erotic Review
Christina Hoff Sommers
writer and resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute; host, weekly video series, The Factual Feminist
Gia Milinovich
producer, broadcaster, professional dork
Tom Slater
deputy editor, spiked; coordinator, Down With Campus Censorship!
Chair
Ella Whelan
staff writer, spiked; writer, Spectator
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