I remember how it was -- JR
British university 'failed to protect and support' lecturers who were targeted in 'campaign of intimidation and harassment over transgender privileges
Academics have condemned a leading university after trans rights activists targeted colleagues who wanted to cut ties with Stonewall.
They accused Cardiff of failing to ‘protect and support’ lecturers who had urged the institution to review its membership of a scheme run by the gay rights campaigning group.
Staff members at the South Wales campus have faced a ‘campaign of intimidation and harassment’ for raising concerns about freedom of speech in relation to transgender rights.
Their names and photographs were circulated on leaflets which branded them ‘transphobic’ and featured a cartoon of a woman holding a gun, while ‘knee capping and throat punching’ threats were made on the university’s LGBT+ society’s official Facebook page.
Twenty-three academics across the country have now signed a letter to protest about the ‘relentless harassment’.
They have demanded that president and vice chancellor Professor Colin Riordan and deputy vice chancellor Professor Damian Walford Davies ‘denounce the threats of student activists seeking to undermine academic speech and reasonable discourse’.
The row began when 16 Cardiff academics wrote to Professor Riordan last June, arguing that it was ‘inappropriate’ for Stonewall to be ‘embedded’ within the institution and ‘influencing policies which affect freedom of expression’.
A counter letter, condemning the ‘transphobia’ of the signatories, was signed by more than 100 academics at Cardiff, and over 1,000 current and former students and others.
Days later, a protest took place outside the university, and leaflets featuring the names and photographs of the signatories were circulated. They featured the caption: ‘Not gay as in happy, but queer as in f*** you.’
In November, stickers appeared on campus depicting a raised gun, with the same caption as the leaflets. The open letter, launched on Friday, claims the original Cardiff signatories were cast as ‘transphobic’ by staff, students and external parties.
It alleges they have been subjected to ‘relentless harassment’ that has been ‘ignored by university administration’.
The document accuses the university of repeatedly failing ‘to undertake proper investigations’.
A Cardiff University spokesman yesterday disputed that these matters have not been ‘thoroughly investigated’. He said: ‘We have found insufficient evidence to link Cardiff University staff or students to any actions that would breach our internal disciplinary codes.’
The university has ‘remained in dialogue’ with staff over the last few months and will ‘continue to support staff and students on all sides while upholding our commitment to free speech’.
Toby Young, general secretary of The Free Speech Union, yesterday demanded Cardiff launch a ‘proper investigation’ into its ‘bungled handling’ of the matter.
He said: ‘Cardiff University has completely failed to intervene while militant trans activists have created a culture of abject fear, with anyone who opposes their ideology afraid to speak out.’
He has written to Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, urging him to intervene in the row.
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History and Literature students at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland have been warned the classic novel contains 'graphic fishing scenes'
It is a story of one man’s heroic struggle against the elements and often viewed as a metaphor for life itself. But Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel The Old Man And The Sea is the latest victim of today’s woke standards, with students warned that it contains ‘graphic fishing scenes’.
Successive TV and film adaptations of the 1952 classic have been awarded U and PG certificates, suitable for children, but a content warning has been issued to History and Literature students at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, an area renowned for its fishing industry.
Mary Dearborn, the author of Ernest Hemingway, A Biography, said: ‘This is nonsense. It blows my mind to think students might be encouraged to steer clear of the book.
‘The world is a violent place and it is counterproductive to pretend otherwise. Much of the violence in the story is rooted in the natural world. It is the law of nature.’
Jeremy Black, emeritus professor of history at the University of Exeter, added: ‘This is particularly stupid given the dependency of the economy of the Highlands and Islands on industries such as fishing and farming.
'Many great works of literature have included references to farming, fishing, whaling, or hunting. Is the university seriously suggesting all this literature is ringed with warnings?’
The content warning was revealed in documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws.
The novel tells the story of Santiago, an ageing fisherman who catches an 18ft marlin while sailing in his skiff off the coast of Cuba.
Unable either to tie the giant fish to the back of the tiny vessel or haul it on board, he proceeds to hold the line for an unspecified number of days and nights.
Despite suffering intense physical pain, Santiago feels compassion for the captured animal. Only when the fish begins to circle his craft does he reluctantly kill it, but he is then forced to fight with, and kill, several sharks intent on devouring the corpse.
Santiago chastises himself for killing the marlin and tells the sharks they have killed his dreams, before eventually making it to shore.
Fans of the novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, believe Santiago’s battle with the forces of nature is a reference to Hemingway’s own struggles, while others have seen the story of bloodshed, endurance and sacrifice as a metaphor for Christianity.
The University of Highlands and Islands, made up of 13 research institutions and colleges, has issued content warnings for other classics.
Students studying Homer’s The Iliad, written in the 8th Century BC, and Beowulf, an English poem penned around 1025 AD, are warned that they contain ‘scenes of violent close combat’.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is flagged because it contains ‘violent murder and cruelty’ and students studying Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo And Juliet are warned that the plays contain scenes of ‘stabbing, poison and suicide’.
A University spokesman said: ‘Content warnings enable students to make informed choices.’
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Students and recent grads describe challenges of being a young conservative
College-age attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando spoke with Fox News about what it’s like to be a young conservative in America today.
"Being a young conservative is really hard nowadays," said Madeline, a student at Ohio Northern University. "You really have to have a lot of guts to put up a big fight. You're fighting not only your peers, but also the big institutions that are after you, that are trying to silence you,"
For all the pushback some students feel, others told Fox News they won’t be silenced by those who oppose their conservative beliefs.
"There's always going to be a few people who say things about you, but at the end of the day, you just have to stand up for what you believe in and fight for what's right," Eric said.
Joseph, a student at East Carolina, told Fox News he felt "scorn" from professors for expressing his conservative viewpoints but that he feels a responsibility to create a positive environment for future generations, which he believes is rooted in conservative principles.
"You kind of have to step in, and you have to stand up, and you have to say, 'That's not what I want, that's not what I want for this country.' You know, we're going to grow up, we're going to have kids, we're going to have grandkids," he said.
"And so it's kind of on us to make sure that we're charting the course and that we're supporting the people and the policies … that are going to make this country prosper," he continued.
The annual CPAC conference brings together conservative activists, elected officials and candidates for office. Former President Trump is slated to speak Saturday evening.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/students-recent-grads-describe-challenges-being-young-conservative
***********************************My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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