Wednesday, March 15, 2017
UK: Conservative Club Says College is Intolerant of Free Speech, Is Promptly Banned
Nothing says "hey, we're totally open to all ideas" like banning one's critics.
At Lincoln University, they are very tolerant of all viewpoints and encourage free speech... until you cross them. A conservative student group discovered this when it pointed out Lincoln University was ranked as "very intolerant" about free speech.
Well, the university wasn't going to sit by and let that go unchallenged. Immediately, the school disproved/proved the validity of this group's accusation by... drumroll please... censoring the group's message.
The Telegraph reports:
Lincoln University’s Conservative Society has been censored by its student union after it posted an image online showing that the university had been ranked “very intolerant” on free speech in a recent survey.
In response, the Students’ Union swiftly suspended the society’s social media accounts, on the grounds that highlighting the university’s ranking had brought it into disrepute.
The move has been widely derided in social media
SOURCE
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8 comments:
Liberals are by far the most intorlerent bunch of sniveling little snowflakes around they want to ban anyone or anything that hurts their sensitive little feelings and makes them cry or throws off their crystal uras while their meditating in the livingroom going OOOOMMM OOOOMMM OOOMMM
Those in power tend to try and stay in power by suppressing opposing viewpoints. Orwell's 1984 is the extreme example. When I was younger most people thought that the Orwellian thought control depicted in the book came from a fascist type government Now most of us know that progressives are the real practitioners of thought control.
MDH
Nothing like making the perfect move to confirm and strengthen a criticism. Obviously they want the very worst ranking possible.
I wish that people did more research before posting.
Lincoln University did not ban the Conservative Society. (The actual name of the group.) Let's get that straight from the beginning. THE UNIVERSITY DID NOT BAN THE GROUP.
What happened was that the Conservative Society was on probation for other offenses not related to speech. The online magazine "spikedonline" published their yearly survey of speech on England's schools.
The Student Union received a "red light" grade meaning they censor far too much. The administration of the University received an "amber" rating, meaning there was work to be done and because the administration failed to interject itself into the running of the Student Union when it came to speech issues. As a whole, the University of Lincoln received a "red light" rating from spikedonline.
The Conservative Society posted the survey and the student run and student led Student Union suspended the group from using social media until May 1, 2017.
Note that the administration did not make the decision and the group was not banned from the campus or campus activities.
Other colleges and universities heard about the suspension and started to post about the suspension.
Students at Lincoln University announced a protest over the actions of the Student Union which was held last Friday.
Prior to the protest, the Conservative Society appealed the suspension. The suspension was overturned and the Conservative Society regained their access to social media.
The Student Union released a statement saying they had screwed up, but attempted to rationalize what had happened by saying "we're just kids. We made a mistake." They also referenced other issues with the Conservative Society but confidentiality rules prevented them from saying what those incidents are.
The good news is that the incident brought liberal and conservative groups together in voicing their displeasure at the suspension. All sides of the ideological spectrum came together to say "this is wrong." That's a good thing.
The second good news is that the Conservative Society won their appeal and hopefully the people who run the Student Union learned something.
The bad news is that while the incident was terribly wrong, people (including this site) portrayed what happened incorrectly.
The administration never banned the Conservative Society. The Student Union never banned the Conservative Society. The Student Union did suspend the social media accounts of the Conservative Society which is wrong, but not nearly the same thing as the administration banning the Conservative Union as portrayed in the headline of the post.
If we are going to get riled up and start making accusations, let's try to make sure that we have all the facts.
Those who supress Free Speech need to be thrown into the Black Hole of Calcutta
Is there a student union anywhere in any country that is not socialist? It is time to ban student unions and the parasites that inhabit them once and for all. It will never happen because universities themselves are hotbed of socialists at the highest levels so at a minimum compulsory student union membership should be eliminated.
Anon 11:40,
This incident occurred in England.
Membership in Student Unions is not required.
Secondly, are you really suggesting that the way to stop student led groups is to suppress and ban them?
If that is the case, you're no different than the kids who made the original decision in this case. Instead of supporting speech, you are for banning those who think differently than you.
I believe they call that "hypocrisy."
Anon 6:31 - I appreciate the "rest of the story" post as it shows there was learning going on which is entirely appropriate for a school setting.
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