Half of British universities do NOT have debating societies

2022-10-12

Half of British universities do NOT have debating societies, Mail investigation finds, amid fears free speech is being stifled by the woke brigade

Report also found three quarters of universities are ‘decolonising’ curriculums
1/3 of students think academics should be fired if they ‘teach offensive material’
One elite uni advises trigger warnings and safe spaces at events ‘likely to upset’

Almost half of universities don’t have an active debating society amid fears that free speech is being stifled at the UK’s top institutions, the Daily Mail can reveal.

A report today shows the true extent to which universities are succumbing to radical ideologies at the expense of alternative views. It also found nearly three quarters of universities are ‘decolonising’ curriculums.

It comes as polling shows students are becoming increasingly hostile to freedom of expression, as more than a third now believe academics should be fired if they ‘teach material that heavily offends some students’. On Monday, the Mail revealed how some remaining debating societies must follow onerous vetting rules for ‘controversial speakers’.

Students at one elite institution are advised to have trigger warnings and safe spaces at events ‘likely to cause upset’.

Almost half of universities don’t have an active debating society amid fears that free speech is being stifled at the UK’s top institutions, the Daily Mail can reveal

Now research by think tank Civitas shows just 79 out of 140 universities surveyed have free speech, debating or libertarian societies.

In a sign of how far freedom of speech is being stamped out in UK higher education, Civitas identified 374 free speech controversies from 2017 to 2020, including 142 anti-free speech petitions. These include demands for the censure of academics, their firing, or restrictions on their publication and teaching, with rows most common at elite institutions.

The report also found that almost three quarters of British universities are ‘decolonising’ curriculums amid a ‘cultural revolution’ on campus.

Tory MP Nigel Mills said universities were in danger of ‘looking like ivory towers, far distant from the real people of this country’.

He added: ‘Trying to airbrush thousands of years of the way the world was because it offends our delicate sensibilities now is just ludicrous and won’t help people understand where we’ve come from and who we are. This is a sign of institutions going woke mad instead of doing what they need to do, which is training the next generation in the skills they need.’

The think tank said that approaches to decolonisation ranged from ‘the benign to the revolutionary’. At a minimum, the agenda demands the diversification of the curriculum to make it more inclusive.

Its report also identified a ‘frightening’ desire to overhaul the ‘liberal tradition’ of British universities. Dr Richard Norrie, director of statistics at Civitas, said: ‘University academics and administrators need to wake up to what is going on under their noses.

‘Attempts to control the curriculum in the name of decolonisation will lead to a politically minded bureaucracy dominating academic research and what is taught at our universities.’

Minister for skills Andrea Jenkyns said the Government’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill ‘will help ensure universities promote robust discussion of controversial issues, rather than shying away from them’.

Universities UK declined to comment.

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