These stories seem to follow a pattern. A university group arranges for a speaker to visit with some conservative views. Some activists protest before they are due to speak and the invitation is rescinded. Then a university spokesperson issues a statement affirming the institution’s unwavering commitment to free speech.
This time the intended speaker was Bracknell MP James Sunderland. The former Army Colonel was scheduled to speak at the University of Reading.
The Express has the story.
James Sunderland, the MP for Bracknell, said he feared “for the future of our students” after a planned appearance at the University of Reading was cancelled.
An undergraduate representing Reading University Politics Association told him in an email: “Having previously had such a successful event with MP Tan Dhesi, who’s the Labour MP for Slough, and having many students from across the university thanking us for bringing an MP that quote, ‘looks like them’, we feel it would be inappropriate to bring in somebody whose views [on] immigration conflict with the ethos of the society.”
Mr. Sunderland… a former Army Colonel, said: “I thought about it and thought it was outrageous and shocking. Not only the language being used, but because it was clearly bringing attention to the difference in how I look as the white male with Tan, who is a great friend of mine from neighbouring Slough.”
The MP told GB News: “[The student] came back to me and said that he was the elected President of the student-run body affiliated with the Students Union, not the wide University. And then I said to him, afterwards, how appalled I was with the language.
“I told him how insulted I felt personally, as a former Army Colonel, who’s given 27 years of regular service to my country, served eight operational tours and who commanded the largest and the most diverse unit in the British Army.
“If universities are tolerating this kind of behaviour, and this kind of language, I really fear for the future of our students.”
A spokesperson for Reading University said: “The University has a long and proud history of encouraging debate and discussion. We welcome people of all backgrounds and political viewpoints to our campuses.”
Worth reading in full.
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Reading university should be on Mastermind, chosen subject irony.
A spokesperson for Reading University said: “The University has a long and proud history of encouraging debate and discussion.
We welcome people of all backgrounds and political viewpoints to our campusesTo ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, however, we only allow people who share our views to our campuses”.FIXED
Much better. Thanks 👍
The majority of students of the university of Reading are not turban-wearing, bearded sikhs in their mid-fourties. Actually, if there are any, they must be a really tiny minority as I haven’t seen a single one so far. Hence, it’s not really clear what bringing in a MP who looks like us is supposed to mean here. OTOH, that’s a cooked phrase which appeared for the last time (last time I noticed it) during the Disney Arielle remake marketing where a black girl or some black girls supposedly said that after a test screening. Probably – if at all – in front of a camera and as part of a carefully rehearsed scene.
The story would seem to be more something like guy from Labour-affiliated student’s organizations torpedoes speech by MP of the enemy party using some ready-made, inflammatory platitudes as excuse, presumably in the hope to elicit an angry response which can then be utilized for more preaching to the carefully isolated (hostage-)choir.
MP Tan Dhesi is thanked by the students because he “looks like them.”
If I was an MP and was told I looked like a student I would be taking a long look in a mirror and concluding that I was suffering from severe wardrobe malfunction. What an insult.
Some clown from a student’s organization wrote that and it’s a cooked phrase which is obviously completely inappropriate here.
Clearly my sense of humour doesn’t always carry. It’s a Northern thing.
I understood the joke. But I think the issue is more important than that. The phrase is supposed to convey that some silent majority of turban-wearing bearded sikhs in their mid-fourties studying at UoR is sort-of being discriminated against when being confronted by people in some official function who don’t belong to this group — clearly, this grave lack of a common lived experience can never lead to a proper, democratic representation of this oppressed group.
However, this oppressed group simply doesn’t exist.
Maoism in full swing
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You can have any political viewpoint you want and can bring in any speaker you want, just as long as it conformsto the authority’s ideology.
All other opinions are deemed to be unacceptable.
It’s free speech with an asterisk.