Oxford University chiefs hit out at campus zealots
As Rhodes row rumbles on, students told history mustn’t be rewritten
OXFORD University’s leaders yesterday launched a stinging attack on campus zealots who shut down debate by attacking or simply banning those they disagree with.
Louise Richardson, the new Vice Chancellor, and Chancellor Lord Patten, said students must learn the value of engaging with ‘objectionable’ ideas.
They said youngsters must understand the true nature of freedom of inquiry, which can involve discussing concepts they may find uncomfortable.
Their extraordinary intervention came amid a growing culture of censorship on campuses across the country, which has seen a number of controversial speakers banned.
‘Safe space’ policies have been adopted by many branches of the National Union of Students, allowing them to banish speakers, magazines and events deemed ‘offensive’.
In Oxford, Oriel College is consulting on removing a statue of benefactor Cecil Rhodes after campaigning students claimed it is ‘racist’ because the 19th century politician was a colonialist. Oriel has already agreed to remove a plaque of Rhodes from one of its buildings after campaigners said making ethnic minority students walk past it amounted to ‘violence’.
However, ‘safe space’ policies do not appear to have stopped extremist Islamist speakers appearing before university students across the country. In a speech to mark her installation as Vice Chancellor, Professor Richardson said freedom of debate must be maintained among the student community.
She asked: ‘How do we ensure that we educate our students to both embrace complexity and retain conviction, while daring to “disturb the universe”, to understand that an Oxford education is not meant to be a comfortable experience?’
‘How do we ensure that they appreciate the value of engaging with ideas they find objectionable, trying through reason to change another’s mind, while always being open to changing their own?
‘How do we ensure that our students understand the true nature of freedom of inquiry and expression?’
Professor Richardson, the first woman to hold the post at Oxford, added: ‘Let’s keep our eyes firmly fixed on the future, without forgetting the traditions that bind us to our forebears and the values and interests that unite us to one another.’
In his speech during the ceremony, Lord Patten, a former Conservative Party chairman and BBC Trust chairman, referred to the Rhodes campaigners, who have been accused of trying to erase history.
‘Universities are institutions where freedom of argument and debate should be unchallenged principles,’ he said.
‘Education is not indoctrination. Our history is not a blank page on which we can write our own version of what it should have been according to our contemporary views and prejudices.
‘We work, study and sleep in great buildings, many of which were constructed with the proceeds of activities that would be rightly condemned today.’
Lord Patten added: ‘We have to listen to those who presume that they can rewrite history within the confines of their own notion of what is politically, culturally and morally correct...
‘But speaking for myself, I believe it would be intellectually pusillanimous to listen for too long without saying what we think... One thing we should never tolerate is intolerance.’
Rhodes left a vast sum of money to the university, and one of the leaders of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign benefited from a Rhodes scholarship himself.
The row over the statue is the latest in a string of attempted bans by students on campuses across the country. Last year, students tried to stop feminist Germaine Greer from speaking at Cardiff University because her views might offend transgender people.
Historian David Starkey was removed from a promotional Cambridge University video over claims his views were ‘racist’. Sir Tim Hunt, who won the Nobel Prize for breakthroughs in cancer research, had to resign from his honorary professorship at University College London over light- hearted remarks deemed sexist. But the ‘safe space’ policies do not appear to have stopped hardline Islamist speakers giving talks to university students across the country.
A Daily Mail investigation revealed last week how representatives from group CAGE have toured Islamic societies at universities, making a series of inflammatory claims unchallenged.
The organisation, which called Jihadi John a ‘beautiful young man’, have been holding events to tell young Muslims to sabotage the Government’s anti-extremism policy Prevent, claiming it is an attempt by the state to spy on them. In September, David Cameron said universi- ties had hosted at least 70 events featuring extremist preachers in the past year, a claim some of them dispute.
The policies of each individual National Union of Students branch are set on a local level, rather than nationally. The NUS was unable to comment last night. ÷Oxford will not be ‘harried into ill-considered actions’ to boost numbers of disadvantaged students, Lord Patten warned.
He said the university is committed to promoting diversity among its students, but hit out at social justice campaigners who recently criticised Oxbridge for continuing to take disproportionately high numbers of private school pupils.
Comment – Page 16
‘Intellectually pusillanimous’ Britain’s students: the new fascists?
Mail, November 20 2015 How do we ensure that [our students] appreciate the value of engaging with ideas they find objectionable Zealots force Oxford to rip down Cecil Rhodes plaque
Mail, December 18, 2015 Louise Richardson Vice-Chancellor
Freedom of argument and debate should be unchallenged principles ... one thing we should never tolerate is intolerance Lord Patten Chancellor FANATICS’ CAMPAIGN OF HATE ON CAMPUS
Mail, Last Friday