Intolerance in universities is a grave concern, says minister

BRITISH universities are in “danger of developing a mono-culture” where only certain political views are accepted, an education minister warned last night.

Sam Gyimah, the Conservative MP for East Surrey, said one student he met during a nationwide tour of university campuses had “Tory b----” written on her bedroom door after airing her political views in a lecture.

In another university, a student had his car egged for expressing his political opinions, the universities minister said.

Speaking to students at King’s College London, Mr Gyimah expressed “serious concern” at the state of free speech in UK universities.

He said: “We have a danger of developing a mono-culture, where some views are in and some views are out.

“Let’s say you happen to be quite Right-wing, but your lecturer disagrees. You can suddenly become quite conscious about expressing your views because they mark your essays.”

Criticising what he suggested was a Left-wing bias on campuses, Mr Gyimah said: “I have never seen a Leftwing politician treated on campus the way some Right-wing politicians are. If you are going to condemn Toby Young, you have to condemn Ken Livingstone. Free speech has to cut both ways.”

As part of his tour visiting students across the country, Mr Gyimah expressed concern at the growing culture of “no-platforming” and “safe spaces”. He said: “You might think someone’s views offensive, in which case challenge them. I do not think we can progress by sticking our fingers in our ears to views we do not want to hear.”