Oxford college says sorry for Christian event
Evangelical group accuses Worcester College of giving in to cancel culture after apology to students
‘We acknowledge that this was a serious failure that has caused significant distress and we apologise unreservedly’
‘It seems that cancel culture has once again shown the power of its grip in one of our top universities’
AN OXFORD college run by the former head of the equalities watchdog has apologised to students for hosting a Christian conference, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
In what has been described as the latest incident of “cancel culture” at British universities, Worcester College acknowledged the “distress” that it had caused students by hosting a Christian Concern training camp and promised to use the profits for “diversity initiatives”.
The move comes just months after David Isaac took over as the Provost of the college from his role as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). He was previously chairman of LGBT charity Stonewall.
During his time at the helm of the EHRC it released guidelines for universities and student unions in order to protect freedom of expression amid criticism of no-platforming decisions.
Mr Isaac also wrote a blog “Freedom of speech in education: the foundation of an effective society” in which he set out the “core principles” including “that decisions about speakers and events should seek to promote and protect the right to freedom of expression”. It is understood he personally ordered an investigation into the conference after receiving a complaint from the president of a student union.
Christian Concern held its annual week-long Wilberforce Academy at the beginning of September, whilst Worcester College was closed for the summer break.
The evangelical campaign group said more than 100 young people were “very warmly welcomed, including by the Provost, received many compliments from the staff and were not aware of any complaints or concerns”.
Christian Concern has previously been accused of transphobia, its members have protested outside abortion clinics and its founder has advocated the criminalisation of homosexuality. Students are understood to have complained that the curriculum for the residential camp was Islamophobic as it included a discussion on the “nature of Islam” and that speakers were pro-conversion therapy.
In response to the criticism, Worcester College told students it deeply regrets the distress caused and was “not aware of the speaker list or programme content in advance”. It promised to carry out an “urgent review” of its booking process.
After discussion with student groups it said it would use the profits from hosting the event to fund “dedicated equality, diversity, and inclusivity initiatives”.
“We acknowledge that this was a serious failure that has caused significant distress, and we apologise unreservedly to all those who have been affected,” the spokesman added in statement to student newspaper The Tab.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, the chief executive of Christian Concern, said: “It seems that cancel culture has once again demonstrated the power of its grip in one of our top universities, fuelled by a small group of activists who won’t tolerate any view that departs from their own narrow ideology.”
She said the group was seeking clarity over the apology, which has not been communicated directly by the college. A spokesman for the college said: “Worcester College is committed to the protection of freedom of speech. Our apology to students did not impact on this right and no event was cancelled.”
Canada’s PC princeling Justin Trudeau might have missed out on a majority this week, but his country may be about to get even woker. Professor Stephen Toope has announced that he will be ending his disastrous reign as Cambridge vice-chancellor two years early. Toope, a Canadian human rights lawyer, says he plans to return home for more quality time with his family after the traumas of the pandemic.
One Cambridge University councillor hailed the vice-chancellor’s contributions to student life; his commitment to zero carbon and “sustainability”, his efforts to make the institution more “transparent and robust in its processes”. In truth, Toope should be remembered for tarnishing Cambridge’s moral and intellectual credibility; suppressing debate and academic freedom. On his watch, Cambridge kowtowed to China and rebuffed all criticism. Far from promoting transparency, inquiring journalists have found it remarkably difficult to extract answers from Toope, or Cambridge itself, about any of it. His tenure embodied much of what is wrong with British universities – so, despite his welcome departure, the rot goes deeper.
Toope was a keen advocate of the sinister bullying which often masquerades as social justice nowadays, especially on campuses. One particularly totalitarian initiative would have encouraged students and faculty members to inform on each other, and report “microaggressions” anonymously. Though he was forced to backtrack on the scheme, it gives a telling insight into the mindset.
Even more damningly, he played an important role in one of the great scandals of recent decades – China’s growing influence in British universities. His tenure began, appropriately enough, with a chummy tête-à-tête with the then-chinese ambassador. Jesus College, Cambridge, has deep financial ties with China, which have expanded under Toope’s tenure – including a £200,000 grant from the Chinese government in 2018 for its “Global Issues Dialogue Centre”, plus £155,000 from Huawei. Toope himself wrote the foreword to a Huawei-sponsored white paper published by the college, praising China’s role in “forging a new governance system”. Professor Peter Nolan, who runs the centre, was recently caught warning, in chillingly pragmatic terms, against debating on campus the situation of Uighur Muslims. He insisted that discussing their plight would not help “mutual understanding” between Britain and China. Perhaps not, but then again, nor do genocides.
Not all universities achieve this level of shamelessness, but it certainly reveals a deeper problem. Nine UK universities depend on Chinese students for more than a fifth of their tuition fee income – which leaves them vulnerable to potential sanctions. According to an alarming report by the think tank Civitas, more than a fifth of research in many high-impact science and technology subjects involves collaboration with China. Specific donations are common too: Oxford University recently renamed its 120-year-old Wykeham professorship in exchange for a £700,000 donation from Tencent, the Chinese software company. Tencent, which has also made “generous” donations to Cambridge’s engineering department, is closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party; its Wechat app forms a cornerstone of the Chinese surveillance state. On current trajectory, how long until Jesus College is renamed “Xi-sus”?
All of this, of course, sits uneasily alongside the clamours for “decolonisation” (Toope, naturally, spearheaded Cambridge’s efforts on this front), “Rhodes Must Fall” and the worthy platitudes we’ve come to expect from university leaders. Louise Richardson, the vice-chancellor of Oxford University, recently confessed to being “embarrassed to have educated Michael Gove”. Speaking for myself, I feel rather more embarrassed about my alma mater’s continuing ties with the world’s pre-eminent totalitarian regime. But cancel culture and statue-toppling are comparatively easy – demonstrating “virtue” without having to do anything. Reversing China’s financial stranglehold on our universities will be far more difficult.
Cambridge reflects not just a growing dependence on tainted money – but another common type of greed and tone-deafness too. During the pandemic, like many universities, Cambridge continued to charge students at the same rate while offering remote-only teaching and a diminished experience. It’s far from over – in a recent survey of Russell Group universities, 20 out of 24 said some proportion of undergraduate teaching would remain online. While students suffer, alongside mass lay-offs of rank-and-file staff, vice-chancellors and other senior managers continue to make the most of the gravy train.
Suppression of free speech, an increasingly rotten deal for students, capitulation to China and a grotesque misplaced sanctimony, university authorities have been getting away with it for far too long. From now on, we cannot just be tough on Toope, but tough on the causes of Toopism.