Why isn’t Reform welcome on university campuses?
Students need to get with the times. This anti-free speech on campus stuff is all so 2022
It’s been a while, but student censors are on the march once more. This time, they have Reform UK firmly in their sights. With eight MPs in Parliament and a huge lead in opinion polls, Reform has rapidly become a key part of Britain’s political landscape. But denial is the current vibe on campus, and students seem determined to make universities Reform-free zones.
Bangor University is the latest to hit the headlines after a Reform MP was banned from addressing students. Sarah Pochin, MP for Runcorn and Helsby, offered to conduct a question-and-answer session, but her request was dismissed. The Bangor Debating and Political Society, based at the university in north Wales, issued a statement claiming: ‘We have zero tolerance for any form of racism, transphobia or homophobia displayed by the members of Reform UK’. ‘Their approach to the lives of others is antithetical to the values of welcoming and fair debate that our society has upheld for 177 years,’ the group pompously declared. And so a ban was issued in the name of ‘keeping hate out of our universities’.
The multiple ironies of a debating society banning debate, a political society refusing to engage in political discussion, and students insulting their opponents in the name of stopping hate are almost too much to bear. But these anti-free speech activists are not ashamed. Quite the opposite. They are ‘proud to be the first of the debating unions to take a stand against Reform UK’ and hope other universities will follow suit.
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