Universities Have Become So Terrified of Free Speech I’ve Launched a Faculty of Common Sense

Woke ideology has a way of generating phrases that send a shiver down the spine.  To me in particular, one chilling dictum sums up the dogma: 'The process is the punishment.'

What does it mean? That merely being investigated for speaking out against hard-Left orthodoxy is itself a kind of torment. Academics don't have to be guilty of any professional misdemeanour. The accusation of a thoughtcrime alone is sufficient to inflict anxiety and fear, silence opposition and impose obedience.

This week, in her first speech as Oxford's vice-chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey referred to a survey from last year. This found that, while there may be strong agreement in the abstract that free speech should be protected in universities, only a paltry 20 per cent of those who took part agreed that universities should allow all ideas and opinions to be expressed even if some people might feel 'threatened' as a result of them.

Continue reading the entire piece here at DailyMail.com

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Eric Kaufmann is professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London and an adjunct fellow of the Manhattan Institute.

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