Durham’s free speech crisis shows how far it has fallen

UNIVERSITIES should be places where students are exposed to a range of opinions and given an opportunity to test ideas in open discussion and debate. If students are told there’s only one acceptable view on hot topics such as gender identity and Britain’s colonial past they might as well be at a madrasa. Instead of being taught how to think, they’re being taught what to think.

I’m afraid Durham is becoming such a place. The unstinting efforts of the students’ union to shut down the print version of Palatinate – for no better reason, according to its supporters, than because it subjects the union’s hard-Left officers to scrutiny – is just one example of how far this institution has fallen.

Since I set up the Free Speech Union two and a half years ago, we’ve received more cries for help from students and academics at Durham than from any other British university.

We’ve had to come to the aid of a young conservative activist who was expelled after his support for Israel and opposition to gay marriage were deemed beyond the pale. We found him a good lawyer and the expulsion was overturned.

We also swung into action when Professor Timothy Luckhurst, the head of a Durham college, got into hot water when he invited Rod Liddle to give an after-dinner speech. A handful of students complained that the views of the outspoken columnist made them feel ‘unsafe’ and – incredibly – Tim was placed under investigation. With our help, he was able to resume his job with a minimum of fuss.

At the beginning of the year, Durham appointed a new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Karen O’Brien, who has professed her commitment to free speech. If she means what she says, she should tell the students’ union to back off and stop trying to shut down the university’s only independent student newspaper.