Institutionalising Censorship

I was rather disturbed to read in today's Times (no Link£) that:

Researchers and  lecturers at the University of Sussex held a departmental meeting entitled "dealing with right-wing attitudes and politics in the classroom".

Unsurprisingly  there has been (quite justified) criticism of this event on the grounds it suppresses freedom of thought and speech. This is at a time when the easily offended snowflakes within today's student unions are seeking to ban all those who have different ideas to themselves and want to be prevent being "triggered" into having a major upset and resorting to watch puppy videos in a safe space.

I'm not quite sure what the thinking was behind this meeting and amongst other things would like to hear their definition of what actually is "right-wing". There doesn't seem to be a rise of book burning fascists in universities...oh wait...except from the censorious new left who many of us see as the new fascists but I'd take a bet that the seminar wasn't about this.

Do they mean Conservatives, Liberal Democrats. mainstream Labour or what? I'm not being sarcastic either. The formerly respected Hope not Hate organisation went right off the rails when they started labelling secularist critics of Islam as "Islamophobes". According to the massed on-line ranks of the followers of Jeremy Corbyn anyone who isn't with them is a "Red Tory" or "Blue Labour". To be labelled a Blairite is well to the right of acceptability in their myopic world.

Who knows?

Apparently any student wanting to put up any kind of notice has to have it approved so that the wording doesn't offend.  Given the ease which some people take offence these days they'll just have blank pieces of paper on the noticeboards.

At this rate nobody will say anything to anybody for fear of denunciation by the new Red Guard.

Universities will become re-education camps churning out the types that cannot think for themselves and only toe the line of whoever is pushing the latest anti-phobia campaign.

It's time for universities to get a grip.

And grow a pair.