DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Tragic decline of free speech on campus trends now
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There was a time when universities prided themselves on being cauldrons of debate, where ideas and ideologies of all shades were tested, dissected and analysed.
In recent years that fervent commitment to free expression has waned, giving way to a stultifying, almost Orwellian orthodoxy.
Suggest in these seats of learning today that a trans woman is not the same as a biological woman or that not all white people are privileged and you are likely to be pilloried. If you are an academic, you're likely to be sacked. Some call it wokery. In reality it is censorship and a gradual crushing of free speech.
A troubling study by the respected think-tank Civitas shows that this culture of intolerance is at its worst in some of our most renowned universities.
Civitas compiled a league table of our 'wokest' institutions. At the top were Oxford (pictured), Cambridge and Bristol
Scouring official websites, promotional material and media reports for variables such as decolonisation policies, transgender regulations and the use of trigger warnings, Civitas compiled a league table of our 'wokest' institutions.
At the top were Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol, followed by several other universities in the Russell Group – supposedly the gold standard of higher education.
The Mail is pleased Rishi Sunak is appointing a 'free speech tsar', part of whose role will be to monitor and combat campus censorship and cancel culture.
Cambridge professor Arif Ahmed is tipped for the job.
