University uses ‘Safe Space’ marshals at Rees-mogg event

Patrolling speakers for offensive views is against principle of free speech, says the Conservative MP

KING’S College London has hired “safe space marshals” to police controversial speaker events on campus.

The university’s students’ union employs the £12-an-hour officials to patrol meetings where there is a potential for audience members to be offended.

While on duty, marshals are expected to hand out leaflets detailing the union’s Safe Space policy, and put up posters. They must be ready to take “immediate action” if anyone expresses opinions that breach the policy. This could include derogatory comments about age, disability, race, religious faith, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic status. Three marshals were present when Jacob Rees-mogg MP spoke at the university’s Conservative Association last week. He said that the concept of safe space marshals was “bizarre” and “antithetical to free speech”.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “It’s absolutely weird to send marshals to check the content of the speech by an elected Member of Parliament.

“I think you should make the safe assumption that MPS have views that are acceptable to their electorate and therefore you should not need to send people whose purpose may be to censor what is discussed.”

Mr Rees-mogg added that the broader safe space movement is “nonsense” and that universities should not be “going along with it”.

The marshals are recruited and employed by the students’ union, but they are also endorsed by the university in its external speaker policy, which says their presence is a potential condition for whether an event can go ahead. Perks for marshals include unlimited tea and coffee, free yoga classes, and birthday treats.

But the policy has sparked a backlash among some students, with the university’s Libertarian society launching a campaign to abolish it.

Tamara Berena, president of the university’s Israel Society, said she raised concerns about an event held during Israel Apartheid Week earlier this year, where speakers appeared to condone terrorism against Israelis. However, she said the union refused to acknowledge it breached the policy, on the grounds that it was “political”.

A King’s College London spokesman said: “Universities have a unique challenge to create environments in which open and uncensored debate from all sides can take place without fear of intimidation and within the framework of the law.”

A trend of scrawling slogans on white T-shirts for nights out has been banned by a university student union. The socalled “white T-shirt socials” are popular at Cardiff University, but the union told societies to stop organising them after offensive slogans were spotted.