Stop saying ‘as you know’ to snowf lake students – in case they don’t

ACADEMICS at one of Britain’s top universities have been urged to avoid saying ‘as you know’ in lectures for fear that ‘snowflake’ students will be left feeling inadequate.

The advice was given at a meeting of Bath University’s equality and diversity network, where members were warned it might cause some undergraduates to feel dimmer than others if they did not know what was being referred to and as a result do worse in their degree courses.

Berenice Dalrymple, co-chair of the university’s student union race equality group, told the meeting: ‘Some lecturers used commonly known references stating “as you know”, which could make students feel at fault for not knowing and make it difficult to engage with the course content.’

Her comments, recorded in minutes of the network’s meeting in May, followed the screening of a video called Why Is My Curriculum White? in which an unnamed student complained that ‘saying “as you know” leads to self-doubt and makes things difficult to question’.

Joanna Williams, a former university lecturer and author, criticised the advice last night. She said: ‘The assumption that students can’t cope with the common expression “as you know” is ridiculous.’

She suggested such ideas were being generated by administrators and academics ‘who need to justify their salaries’ and who planted them in the heads of student union activists when the majority of undergraduates were ‘far more sensible and would not freak out’ if a lecturer used the phrase.

The equality and diversity network meeting had been focusing on the attainment gap between white and non-white students – who in some years were said were to be ‘50 per cent less likely to attain a good degree’ – when the advice was given.

Bath is currently ranked the sixthbest university in The Guardian University Guide and 11th in The Complete University Guide.

Its alumni include former RAF Chief of Staff Sir Stephen Dalton, Justin King, former chief executive of Sainsbury’s, and Sir Julian HornSmith, former chief operating officer at Vodafone.

In recent years, universities have been making increasing efforts to protect a so-called ‘snowflake generation’ of students, cosseting them away from controversial content or issues.

Examples include advice to students by Oxford University’s equality and diversity unit that failing to make eye contact or speak directly to people could be deemed a ‘racial microaggression’, and a warning to English students by lecturers at Cambridge University that plays by William Shakespeare could contain upsetting gore and violence.

A spokesman for Bath University said the equality and diversity network had a ‘broad membership’ and was a forum for debate.

He added: ‘One of the good things about universities is having the freedom of speech to discuss equality and diversity openly. Our students are bright, curious and frequently challenge received wisdom – and we wouldn’t want it any other way.’