Oxford ‘allowed political diversity to wither’

Dons criticise university’s equality chief applauding attempt to shut down Right-wing conference

OXFORD dons have accused the university of allowing political diversity to “wither away” after its head of equality celebrated the Belgian police’s attempt to shut down a Conservative conference.

Vernal Scott, who has led Oxford’s “equality and diversity unit” since October 2023, hailed the closure of the National Conservatism Conference on Tuesday in a since-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter.

Police entered and then blockaded the conference, at which Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman were speaking, to shut it down after a court order claimed the event could be homophobic, offend minorities or incite public disorder.

“I applaud the mayor and police of Brussels for their decision to close down this conference,” Mr Scott wrote online.

The court order, which was later reversed, was condemned by No10 as “extremely disturbing” and by Mrs Braverman as an undermining of “free speech” by the “Brussels thought police”.

Now the University of Oxford has been drawn into the row after Mr Scott, who was previously head of diversity and inclusion at Essex police, made his widely-condemned remarks.

Prof Lawrence Goldman, an emeritus fellow at St Peter’s College, told The Telegraph that Mr Scott “does not understand the meaning of his job title”.

“Vernal Scott’s comment sums up the problem in our universities, which have focused on increasing social diversity while allowing intellectual and political diversity to wither away,” he said.

“They’ve ceased to be places where the full range of ideas is represented and can be discussed, which means they’re no longer fulfilling the function of a university.

“Is it any wonder that universities, Oxford among them, are no longer to be trusted to uphold freedom of expression when their staff make comments like this?”

Sir Noel Malcolm, a senior research fellow at All Souls, said: “It’s very troubling to think that someone appointed to promote ‘diversity’ has such a narrow concept of what diversity is.

“Students will never learn the basic habits of respectful argument, on objective grounds, with people whose views differ from their own, if they are encouraged to think that the best way to deal with such people is to silence them.”

The University of Oxford distanced itself from Mr Scott’s remarks, saying they “do not represent the views of the university”.