UK Free Speech University Rankings 2017 Report: Marked increase in censorius policies

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I have been following these reports with interest since their inception 3 years ago. If I'm honest, I am not the least bit surprised by the the results for 2017.

The Free Speech University Rankings (FSUR) is back. spiked’s groundbreaking analysis of campus censorship in the UK has published its third annual report, and it paints a grim picture. Our survey, ranking 115 UK universities using our traffic-light system, shows that 63.5 per cent of universities now actively censor speech, and 30.5 per cent stifle speech through excessive regulation. This marks a steady rise in censorship over the past three years. Now only six per cent of UK universities are truly free, open places.

The survey covers policies and bans relating to all forms of free expression, from what students are allowed to say to what publications, songs or adverts they are allowed to engage with to what speakers they are allowed to invite to campus and what clothes – or fancy dress – they are allowed to wear. What’s more, we also cover policies and actions that constitute thought reform, such as mandatory conduct classes and policies that require students to say certain things. We maintain that being compelled to express something is as corrosive to free speech as being prohibited from expressing something.

Policies

The types of policies we examine include, but are not limited to:

University

- Free Speech and External Speaker policies

- Bullying and Harassment policies

- Equal Opportunities policies

Students’ union

- No Platform policies

- Safe Space policies

- Student Codes of Conduct

It should be noted that holding one of the above policies does not constitute an instant offence – they are each assessed on the basis of their content.

Actions

The types of actions we examine include, but are not limited to:

- Bans on controversial speakers

- Bans on newspapers

- Expulsion of students on the grounds of their controversial views or statements

We assess actions which have taken place in the past three academic years – the average lifespan of a campus ban.

For anyone who’s been anywhere near a campus recently, this will come as no surprise. Students’ unions no longer just No Platform the odd edgy speaker - they ban ‘tarts and vicars’ parties and ‘offensive hand gestures’. But what’s perhaps most striking in this year’s findings is how fast universities are catching up. Though SUs are still far more censorious than universities, 23.5 per cent of university administrations are now ranked Red, compared with 15 per cent just last year. As spiked has always argued, to assume that campus censorship is purely the work of blue-haired students is to give them too much credit. They clearly operate within institutions – and ultimately, a society – that affirms their outlook.

Though some university leaders have recently taken a stand against the Safe Space excesses of some of their students, they’re simply not practising what they preach. We isolated two concerning trends in this year’s rankings: clampdowns on discussion of religion and clampdowns on debate about transgenderism. At some of Britain’s most prestigious universities – once interested in probing perceived wisdom and in pursuing truth – the oldest and newest orthodoxies in the book are being ringfenced from criticism. ‘Transphobic propaganda’ is banned at eight universities, and 43 per cent hold religion and belief policies that guard against offending faith groups. And more often than not, these stem from university administrations rather than SUs.

You can check your local university by clicking the results link below. Once you have the page open click on the appropriate image to see results. You can also see last year's result by hovering over the image.

The crisis of free speech on campus

How we rank

The results

Revealed: how censorship on campus is getting worse

Universities are bastions of the far left Liberal nut jobs. It is there natural habit as they cannot survive in the real word.
As such due to their nature they will inforce there “safe spaces”.

I am back at university now doing my teaching PGCE and I hate it. Can’t wait to leave as it full of academic morons who have no idea about the real word.

a reply to: crazyewok

Yet these are the very people who are educating and assessing our future decision makers and industry leaders.

The real World doesn't exist in academia, you should know that.

Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them. Once we lose the fundamental right of free speech, the rest will soon follow.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

And that is the problem!

At least in education.

There is a huge disconnect between the academics in there safe spaces and actual teachers on the front lines!

The teacher I work with in my school placement scoff and laugh at the university.

In Academia everything in there perfect world can be organised and placed in neat boxes and controlled....

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them.

Free speech is a fine and noble thing, when the number of people having access "to hearing" your speech is limited.

But, when the whole world is your audience, free speech has the power to undermine every single authority on which society is built.

a reply to: Morrad

It's not much different across the pond!


Same thing is happening here.....

originally posted by: AMPTAH

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them.

Free speech is a fine and noble thing, when the number of people having access "to hearing" your speech is limited.

But, when the whole world is your audience, free speech has the power to undermine every single authority on which society is built.

So much the better.

And though all the windes of doctrin were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licencing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falshood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the wors, in a free and open encounter.

John Milton.

originally posted by: AMPTAH

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them.

Free speech is a fine and noble thing, when the number of people having access "to hearing" your speech is limited.

But, when the whole world is your audience, free speech has the power to undermine every single authority on which society is built.

There are lots of Authorities that need to be undermined. And many need abolishing.

You didn't develop Stockholm Syndrome after being under these authorities did you?

It's a funny one this. In the rush to "protect" people from challenging thoughts, university student unions and authorities are unwittingly setting the scene to erode hard fought civil and social liberties.

It was only a media backlash that stopped the gender segregation of audiences at some Muslim events at UK universities, previously supported by student unions and university institutions. Such segregation is an affront and impacts a basic pillar of women's rights in the UK. Yet this would have been sacrificed to appease some (male) student and speakers (backward) demands.

Give it ten years. We'll be churning out students who have no understanding of the society that funds their education, because they selectively censor challenging thoughts.

Sometimes you have to laugh at the academics, one I knew never could tie his shoe laces but was brilliant at his subject and then again I when I went to uni a woman gave a lecture on magnetic tape that was about as wrong as it could be as she didn't even know the basic lengths of tape as she'd never actually held one so I basically had to take over the class as a mature student with years of mainframe operations experience etc.

DEPLORABLE!

CENSORSHIP: The Universal Language of Dictators