Date: 01/07/17
Harry Yorke, The Daily Telegraph
Students are now so powerful that university professors are afraid to teach controversial subjects for fear of being sacked, an academic conference was told on Thursday
Professor Dennis Hayes, a co-founder of
“Academics for Academic Freedom” said that universities were now ruled by a
“culture of censorious quietude” where academics were not able to discuss
“anything difficult.”
Speaking at the University of Buckingham yesterday, Prof
Hayes added: “There’s an interesting turn today, it’s not that people are
abusive, it’s just that they don’t say anything at all in universities.
“There’s
so many things that could be discussed that you dare not say. And the
consequences of arguing anything difficult is potentially that you could be
sacked.
“These are mainstream views, of the state, institutions and particularly
universities. Gay rights, feminism, gender fluidity, fear of Islamaphobia, the
belief that we are all unwell, identity-based politics, are not views that
challenge conventional thinking in the way that every university has in its
charter.
‘These are conventional thinking. You dare not say you’re against gay
marriage. Just discussing any of these things can get you in serious trouble if
not the sack. What exists in universities is a culture of censorious quietude.
“Try arguing ‘there are boys and girls’… or as McEnroe has found out, that there
are male and female tennis players.
“Things are simply not discussed. Academics
and student… they go silent. They may even take delight in people who stand up
and get beaten for their views.”
Discussing his decision to found a pro-free
speech group in 2006, Prof Hayes added that he wanted academics to feel “free”
to discuss controversial subjects on campus.
“The cry of offence, the fear of
personal emotional hurt, is now the greatest threat to academic freedom,”
he
continued. His warning came as the Universities Minister Jo Johnson warned that
the erosion of freedom of speech on campus jeopardised Britain’s standing as an
“intellectual powerhouse”.
Hat Tip/ The GWPF
That’s nothing new. Something similar happened across American Universities in the closing years of the 19th Century and the opening years of the 20th century. In this case, it wasn’t prejudice from the students but from the university administrators, in a campaign to bury Henry George’s ideas and impose the Neo-Classical dogma.
Nothing is happenning at universities anymore except for the business schools.
The left-wing enforcers end up with no jobs after school and the private sector goes on as it did before.
The biggest problem is not in universities, it is when the left-wing political correctness invades government that the real problem starts.
nope. those are merely symptoms.
the problem arises when you give them your money with no strings attached.
your money. you.
are you ready to discuss that hard cold fact?
Andrew Scheer, the new leader of the Canadian Conservative Party has come out for free speech on campus. link Canada also has Professor Jordan Peterson campaigning for free speech and against compelled speech. link Compelled speech, in this context, is being forced to use a transgender person’s chosen made-up pronoun. Canadian law could make it a hate crime to do otherwise. link As Peterson says, “Forced speech is forced thought.”
Most people alive today have no memory of Fascism. The millennials have no memory of Soviet and Chinese totalitarianism. Those regimes were a warning example and made us thankful, and protective of, our freedom.
The freedom to say what you like in the UK is pretty solid but I think people are afraid they may “cross the line” and there will be serious consequences. As the line is a bit blurry they err very much on the side of caution and moderate their comments or say little. This gives ammunition to the other side so they shift the goal posts a bit (with or without the help of the Badgers) and move the line. Gradually the line will become a
wall that is right in your feckin’ face. Unless you do something about it. That is step up to the line, exercise your absolute right to hold an opinion and shout it loudly so the others on the other side hear it clearly.
They won’t like it, they may call you names (remember you are an adult), they may offer threats – these are rarely real and if they do materialise there are plenty of lawyers doing no win-no fee. In short you have to stand up to what you believe,you should have already known this very important lesson from recent history and, if you are young, from what your parents and grandparents did NOT THAT LONG AGO.
You know where the “D” word comes from don’t you?
Didn’t I read a few days ago that London (sometimes referred to as Londonistan) is putting restrictions on the famous Speakers’ Corner? And so it starts…
There is a great blog by a guy on the inside called “Confessions of a College Professor” http://professorconfess.blogspot.com/
The latest post is “Left Bans Scientist Who Discovered DNA”
It starts out this way:
“Only an idiot could have thought the Left agenda of shutting down Conservative speakers on campus would stop at just those speakers. Having succeeded in making it impossible for a Conservative to show his or her (Hi Ann Coulter!) face on campus without risking violence, they now are moving on to everyone who dares to utter a word against Leftist ideas…even those who simply are pursuing knowledge and have no interest in politics.”
And yes, the post is about James Watson (one of the co-discoverers of DNA) the Nobel laureate’s talk at UI canceled after faculty backlash. The left has shut down talks by Milo and other “conservatives”, and now are shutting down technical talks (this on was on cancer research) which would only be attended by a handful of faculty and grad students.
The University is lost. The mindless have taken over. It is just one more piece in the Suicide of the West. (yes, I know, I shamelessly stole that phrase from a famous guy)
I suggest you read that short post and weep.
milo was a most entertaining pedophile.
but even breitbart had to get rid of him for it.
What was their problem with James Watson??
He once made an offhand comment about the IQ differences (the average) between the races. One may not do that without the left hating you forever afterwards.
Some have said that we can never solve problems until we honesty look at all the factors involved. I guess the left thinks magical thinking is much better.
Well I have seen some very smart people from all races that I have come in contact with over my 73 years. I have also seen some very dumb (or closed minded people of various races) people from all races. I don’t think you can generalize, despite what James Watson’s offhanded comment was…
The fact that there are very smart and very dumb people in all groups says nothing about what the average may or may not be for any group.
It’s a book by James Burnham written in 1964. link
Yep. Liberals don’t value what we have achieved. For them, it is all about victimhood.
Canada recently celebrated its 150th birthday. On the Canadian Broadcorping Castration more air time was devoted to the victimhood of the Indians, from whom we stole* the land doncha know, than to the great accomplishments that have led Canada to be arguably the best country on the planet.
*Stole the land … anybody who says that just doesn’t understand history. The reason the Indians of western Canada didn’t participate in the Riel Rebellion and were willing to sign the treaties was that they were looking south of the border.
Just like every other portion of the world, human groups in the Americas were constantly fighting each other over land. With stronger groups taking what they could from weaker ones.
I had one young liberal tell me that the tomahawk was actually a gardening implement until warlike Europeans taught the peaceful natives how to use it to kill.
Mark W
Medieval torturers had nothing on the women in the First Nations groups. They were both artfully creative. If we stole everything from the locals, I want my beads and tools back.
A good study of this topic is the region West of Toronto up to the Bruce peninsula. That land was bought (especially in the 1835 period) and the occupants removed themselves to Manitoulin Island (mostly, not all). The Oneida bought the land they occupy SW of London Ontario. They move there from Mass. They are treated as ‘First Nations’ even though they come from the US and are in fact settled immigrant farmers.
As usual, history in context is never as simple as it seems in retrospect.
Fear of being sacked for teaching children to be skeptical in science is a anathema to the subject.
As far as climate is concerned modern temperatures, sea levels, and extreme weather events are neither unusual nor unprecedented. Many regions of the Earth are cooler now than they have been for most of the last 10,000 years.
Natural factors such as the Sun (84 papers), multi-decadal oceanic-atmospheric oscillations such as the NAO, AMO/PDO, ENSO (31 papers), decadal-scale cloud cover variations, and internal variability in general have exerted a significant influence on weather and climate changes during both the past and present. Detecting a clear anthropogenic forcing signal amidst the noise of unforced natural variability may therefore be difficult.
more at http://notrickszone.com/2017/07/03/already-285-scientific-papers-published-in-2017-support-a-skeptical-position-on-climate-alarm/
Dear Tom, an oft mis-quoted scientist on this blog stated that if you really understood a subject you should be able explain it in simple words that anyone could understand. QED
Either this is obviously not true or there are virtually no teachers that understand their subjects. (I think this is obviously not true AND there are virtually no teachers that understand their subjects.)
In my Uni era, Australia late 1960s, you either worked bloody hard and maybe passed or pissed around and failed.
This can be recreated. It will be.
It is cyclic?
Just now, in USA, it looks like it is at the ugly bottom of the cycle.
Geoff
Let’s take a look at book banning in America… who is doing that?
http://lithub.com/the-history-and-present-of-banning-books-in-america/
Try to find any of Mark Twain’s books on any reading list. The reason there are only complaints against liberal books is because those are the only ones allowed. You can’t protest a book that’s already de facto banned.
The library bruhaha is mostly fiction. Local public libraries have only a small number of books of the total published. The complaints arise because some genres are represented far in excess of the community’s interests, and are contrary to the community’s values or standards, while other genres are ignored completely. The debate is more about selecting the books that appeal to the community’s interests subject to a limited budget. Put books about Judaism in a Mulim community and you will see an even bigger uproar.
Griff, no need to ban books. More books, fewer (intelligent) readers every year. Especially no need to ban those LGBQLSMFT books because they have a limited (in more than one way) readership. Usually they are used to indoctrinate and mislead our youth. Christ said something about millstones for those who would lead young children astray.
“LSMFT” <<RNFL oh south river independent.. that is cute! How terribly un-PC of you.
Tom Halla–I did graduate from San Jose State University in the early 1970’s<< mine was 77, I also remember the wonderful 'westernized' students from Iran, then the switch to calling themselves "Persian" about ~1976 to avoid the negative views of Iran, then
the Ayatollah Khomeini took over in 1979.