Report: 94% of UK Universities Censor Free Speech – Heat Street

A comprehensive rankings on the state of free speech at British universities has found that 94% of institutions actively censor their students.

A report bythe websitespikedrevealed that the ability of students to express unpopular views and challenge their peers on campus has declined again.

The 2017 edition of the Free Speech University Rankings, published over the weekend, showed that 108 of 115 institutions were given either a red (64%) or amber (30%) ranking on issues relating to freedom of expression.

Red rankings were given in response to outright bans on speakers, ideas or other materials (songs, newspapers, etc.), while amber rankings were for vaguer restrictions on being offensive.

According tospiked, the situation is worse now than ever before. When the rankings began in 2015, 80% of universities were classed as red or amber.

In 2016, the figure was 90%, which has increased again.

Heat Street has chronicled many of the illiberal developments on UK campuses which have informed the new, harsher rankings.

Measure like a tabloid newspaper ban at Queen Mary University of London, and Edinburgh Universitys safe space policy, which outlaws hand gestures which denote disagreementhave signalled an increasingly authoritarian outlook.

Aspiked compilation of the most worrisome new restrictionshighlighted additional absurdities.

They include instructions from Cardiff Metropolitan University to alternate the order of genders when you speak to avoid seeming sexist, a ruling from London South Bank outlawing criticism of religion and a restriction from Surrey University which prohibits students from depicting the university mascot having sex.

Many of the UKs most prestigious universities did especially poorly in the rankings. Oxford was branded red, while Cambridge got an amber ranking.

The top-tier Russell Group which also includes Durham and the London School of Economics was two-thirds red and one-third amber.

Only seven universities got a green ranking, most of which are relatively obscure, regional institutions.

Read more from the original source:
Report: 94% of UK Universities Censor Free Speech - Heat Street