Safe space ‘ bouncers’ for guest speakers
A STUDENTS’ union is paying ‘safe-space marshals’ to make sure talks by outside speakers do not contain views that might offend audiences.
They are required to attend events with a mobile phone so that they can take ‘immediate action’ over comments deemed inappropriate.
The students’ union at King’s College London is paying marshals £12 an hour and comes with a range of benefits including pension.
Last week they even policed a talk by Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. Their purpose is to uphold the union’s ‘safe space’ policy – which bans ‘ intimidation or harassment’ based on ‘any distinction’, including age, disability, race, sexual orientation and class.
The marshals can be asked to monitor events where speakers are judged to have a ‘medium or high’ risk of breaking its safe space policies. They are also required to put up posters declaring ‘ This is a Safe Space’ and make a record of any instances of offensive behaviour reported to them by members of the audience.
Providing the marshals is often a condition of the speaker being allowed to attend.
A team of three marshals sat in on a talk by Mr Rees-Mogg, at King’s College Conservative Association last Wednesday.
The MP, who was not initially aware of the marshals’ presence, told MailOnline: ‘ The point of university is to have vigorous debate and the safe spaces approach is the antithesis of what university should be about. If people don’t like what is being said they can go to other meetings. Universities should not be encouraging safe spaces, they should be encouraging free speech.’
The marshals are required under university policy, but are hired and funded by the students’ union. An online advert for the post offers free weekly yoga and spin classes as part of the contract.
Marshals also get pension contribution of up to 6 per cent, 30 days of holiday a year, monthly healthy lunches, birthday treats and unlimited cups of tea and coffee. Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, said: ‘You could not make this up. The logic of employing someone to patrol the campus for safe space violations is to turn KCL into a mini, soft police state.
‘Next they’ll be employing monitors to listen in to lectures. It pays better than a bar job so they are unlikely to have a shortage of applicants.’
King’s Libertarian Society was recently formed by students to protest at the student union’s ‘deeply patronising’ safe space policy. The group describes the marshals as a ‘drain on resources’ and a threat to free speech.
Jack emsley, editor of The 1828, the Conservative Association Journal, said: ‘The students’ union is intolerant of opposing ideas and uses safe space as an effective smokescreen.
‘It’s telling that a MP needed safe space marshals to watch over him but that the same procedure failed to prevent antiIsraeli activists from calling for violence against Jewish Israeli students last year.’
A university spokesman said KCL was ‘absolutely committed to academic freedom and free, peaceful and respectful dialogue’. Momin Saqib of KCL Students’ Union said: ‘We have never banned a speaker from speaking because of our safe space policy. Moreover, we strongly support free speech.’
‘Should be about free speech’