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Britain’s Universities are in Thrall to the Toxic Woke Cult – and Oxford and Cambridge are the Worst

by Toby Young
16 January 2023 11:00 AM

A new report from the think tank Civitas into has revealed just how captured Britain’s universities are by hard-left, woke ideology. The Daily Mail has more.

More than half of Britain’s universities are peddling controversial and radical ‘woke’ ideologies on students, a damning league table has revealed.

Some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions are “poisoning the minds of generations to come”, critics said last night, by subjecting undergraduates and academics to ‘trigger warnings’ and guidance on ‘white privilege’.

Elite Russell Group universities dominate the table, accounting for eight of the top ten spots. Cambridge and Oxford come first and second, having introduced ‘unconscious bias’ and race workshops for freshers, followed by the University of Bristol, which has outlawed words such as ‘mankind’ to avoid causing offence.

The findings were slammed as “disturbing” by free speech campaigners and MPs, who say a “dark shadow” of political correctness has now fallen over our most sought-after universities.

Compiled by Dr Richard Norrie, a researcher at the think-tank Civitas, the table ranks 137 universities after scouring websites, national and local media, and promotional materials for examples of ‘campus wokery’.

A staggering 62 per cent were found to have had references to trigger warnings or ‘content notes’, designed to alert students to material deemed potentially harmful or worrying. Seventy-nine institutions had mentions of ‘white privilege’ in guidance offered to staff and students or on their website, while 59 per cent were offering training materials or resources on ‘anti-racism’ online.

Sir John Hayes MP, chair of the Common Sense Group of Tories and a former further education minister, said universities were wasting resources on “woke nonsense”. “Universities should be places of light and liberty learning, but a dark shadow has fallen over too much of higher education,’ he told the Mail.

“Woke nonsense has replaced scholarship and too many universities are not only wasting resources but risk poisoning the minds of generations to come. The report is disturbing.”

The study found Britain’s elite universities were almost twice as likely to promote ‘radical’ and ‘controversial’ concepts than lesser-known institutions, which Dr Norrie slammed as a “new moralism that reeks of hypocrisy”, especially with many happily taking Chinese money.

The analysis comes amid a rise in ‘campus wokery’. Alarming examples include:

  • Aberdeen University, which issued a trigger warning for Peter Pan because it could be ‘emotionally challenging’;
  • The University of Chester cautioned students reading the Harry Potter books, claiming they ‘can lead to difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class and identity’;
  • Imperial College London encouraged its students and staff to have ‘hard conversations’ with friends and family who deny white privilege;
  • The University of Warwick has now banned the term ‘trigger warning’, claiming that it could upset students.

Bosses at the University of Glasgow also warned archaeology students their course might involve examining bones and looking at a preserved ‘bog body’.

Worth reading in full.

This shocking report reveals how far British universities have been captured by a far-Left, anti-white, anti-British ideology, while at the same time happily climbing into bed with China, a totalitarian state that has imprisoned nearly two million Muslims and is no friend of Britain.

At some point, British taxpayers, who currently fund universities to the tune of £21 billion a year, are going to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ Why should they continue to fund institutions that seem hell bent on running down our country, demonising our citizens and giving succour to our enemies?

If fat cat Vice Chancellors want to cling on to their half-a-million-pound salaries, grace-and-favour homes, domestic servants, 20-week annual holidays and vast pensions, they’re going to have to put their house in order.

The Woke League Table

For any sixth formers reading this worried about what university to go to – or any parents or grandparents involved in that choice – here is the Civitas league table, with the worst at the top:

  1. University of Cambridge 2.38
  2. University of Oxford 1.96
  3. University of Bristol 1.81
  4. University College London 1.63
  5. Newcastle University 1.62
  6. SOAS, University of London 1.6
  7. University of East Anglia 1.56
  8. University of Warwick 1.51
  9. Durham University 1.49
  10. University of Exeter 1.42
  11. The University of Sheffield 1.4
  12. York St John University 1.34
  13. University of Portsmouth 1.34
  14. Oxford Brookes University 1.34
  15. Queen Mary University of London 1.32
  16. Goldsmiths, University of London 1.31
  17. University of Birmingham 1.17
  18. University of Reading 1.14
  19. University of Brighton 1.06
  20. University of Essex 1.01
  21. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 1
  22. The University of Nottingham 0.99
  23. De Montfort University 0.99
  24. King’s College London 0.99
  25. University of Surrey 0.98
  26. Leeds Beckett University 0.96
  27. University of Glasgow 0.95
  28. University of the Arts London 0.91
  29. University of Liverpool 0.9
  30. University of Dundee 0.87
  31. University of Salford 0.85
  32. Middlesex University 0.83
  33. The University of Manchester 0.82
  34. University of Leeds 0.78
  35. Royal Holloway, University of London 0.77
  36. University of Stirling 0.74
  37. University of Central Lancashire 0.74
  38. The London School of Economics and Political Science 0.73
  39. University of Leicester 0.7
  40. University of Plymouth 0.61
  41. Imperial College London 0.59
  42. University of Aberdeen 0.58
  43. University of York 0.57
  44. University of Kent 0.56
  45. Keele University 0.54
  46. Canterbury Christ Church University 0.52
  47. University of Huddersfield 0.49
  48. University of St Andrews 0.43
  49. London South Bank University 0.42
  50. Nottingham Trent University 0.4
  51. University of the West of England, Bristol 0.39
  52. Bath Spa University 0.39
  53. City, University of London 0.34
  54. University of Bath 0.32
  55. Staffordshire University 0.31
  56. University of Lincoln 0.3
  57. University of Edinburgh 0.29
  58. University of Westminster 0.26
  59. University of Winchester 0.24
  60. Loughborough University 0.21
  61. Aberystwyth University 0.2
  62. University of Sussex 0.2
  63. University of Wolverhampton 0.18
  64. University of Hertfordshire 0.18
  65. Manchester Metropolitan University 0.15
  66. Coventry University 0.14
  67. Lancaster University 0.12
  68. University of Derby 0.08
  69. Anglia Ruskin University 0.07
  70. Brunel University London 0.05
  71. Liverpool John Moores University -0.06
  72. Sheffield Hallam University -0.08
  73. Liverpool Hope University -0.1
  74. Queen’s University Belfast -0.12
  75. London Metropolitan University -0.16
  76. The Glasgow School of Art -0.21
  77. The Royal Veterinary College -0.22
  78. University of Greenwich -0.22
  79. Buckinghamshire New University -0.22
  80. Swansea University -0.28
  81. University of Gloucestershire -0.3
  82. Birkbeck, University of London -0.31
  83. University of Chichester -0.33
  84. Robert Gordon University -0.34
  85. Falmouth University -0.34
  86. University of Bradford -0.34
  87. University of Hull -0.37
  88. Edinburgh Napier University -0.4
  89. University of Southampton -0.42
  90. University of Strathclyde -0.43
  91. University of the West of Scotland -0.45
  92. University of Roehampton -0.47
  93. Norwich University of the Arts -0.47
  94. University of Sunderland -0.49
  95. The Open University -0.49
  96. University of East London -0.53
  97. Aston University -0.54
  98. University of South Wales -0.55
  99. Bournemouth University -0.59
  100. Heriot-Watt University -0.63
  101. University of Northampton -0.64
  102. Bangor University -0.66
  103. Cardiff University -0.66
  104. Birmingham City University -0.68
  105. University of Worcester -0.68
  106. Edge Hill University -0.77
  107. Glasgow Caledonian University -0.78
  108. Plymouth Marjon University -0.82
  109. University of Suffolk -0.85
  110. Guildhall School of Music and Drama -0.9
  111. University of the Highlands and Islands -0.92
  112. Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance -0.93
  113. University of Chester -0.98
  114. Ulster University -0.99
  115. Leeds Trinity University -1.01
  116. Queen Margaret University -1.04
  117. Solent University -1.07
  118. Wrexham Glyndwr University -1.1
  119. University of London -1.13
  120. Northumbria University -1.23
  121. Kingston University -1.25
  122. University of Wales Trinity Saint David -1.33
  123. University of Bedfordshire -1.38
  124. Royal College of Art -1.4
  125. St George’s, University of London -1.4
  126. University of Bolton -1.41
  127. London Business School -1.43
  128. The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama -1.48
  129. Cardiff Metropolitan University -1.48
  130. Bishop Grosseteste University -1.55
  131. The University of West London -1.82
  132. Cranfield University -1.85
  133. Teesside University -1.95
  134. Royal College of Music, London -1.96
  135. University of Cumbria -1.98
  136. The University of Buckingham -1.98
  137. Regent’s University London
Tags: CambridgeChinaCivitasOxfordWoke

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