The university debating society is dead

- or so it would seem. Also gone is something else but I will return to that in a moment.

There were reports yesterday of how one of our biggest and most prestigious universities in the country had to call in security and, for his own safety, escort a former Prime Minister off the premises. It looked a rather nasty situation.

The reason? The Student Union decided he, as a "Liberal", should not be permitted to speak at an event organised by law students. It was eventually held online. 

I do not particularly care for the former Prime Minister in question. There are in fact any number of things about him I do not like at all but he was invited to speak. It was an invitation that broke no laws and he should have been able to accept it without being in any way threatened. If the students wished to disagree with him then the place to do it was in the question and answer session which would undoubtedly have followed his talk. If other students did not want to participate then they should simply have stayed away - not prevented their fellow students from challenging him.

I went to a number of guest speaker talks at university. One was with a woman who later became a High Court judge. I did not agree with something she said and neither did a number of other people. We challenged her but we did so in a way that caused her to say to us afterwards that she had welcomed the "civilised" debate. Good. That's the way things should proceed.

Now there are demands that students follow the "politically correct" or "woke" lines about everything. The student union in this state has recently published something that can only be held to be anti-Semitic. It calls for a Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel. The Jewish students at the university, who generally keep a low profile anyway, felt threatened by it. 

My own time at university, and I went to more than one and have taught at more than one, was not perfect. Nothing ever is but I really do not remember anything quite like the current attempts to stifle all debate. The staff might have had differing views from the students and even on occasion allowed those views to influence their marking but I cannot remember any violence or even threats of violence. The students made demands and things sometimes got heated, even very heated, but I cannot remember any occasion on which someone lawfully on the premises was removed by the police. 

Universities should be hotbeds of dissent but informed and civilised dissent. Only allowing one set of information to be broadcast and one way of expressing it is surely not the purpose of a university? Dissent and debate are essential to progress.