Criticising China’s Covid lockdowns is a “microaggression”, a university has told professors. The Telegraph has the story.
The University of Surrey’s mandatory online module for staff, titled ‘introduction to race equity’, includes several examples of so-called microaggressions, or subtle remarks or actions that some find offensive.
Academics are told that they should not critique the Communist Party’s zero-Covid draconian lockdown measures, which have seen millions locked in their homes, as Chinese students may feel they are simply “caring more about others”.
Students are encouraged to anonymously report such perceived slights on a “Report + Support” webpage and scholars are urged “to seek advice from human resources regarding next steps” if they are reported…
The Telegraph can reveal that bosses at the university, based in Guildford, are facing a revolt from more than a dozen of their own academics who accuse them of “policing conformity with controversial moral and/or political beliefs” of what they say, and even the readings they assign to students.
The row centres on the provost, Tim Dunne, seeking to “morally evaluate academics” with a new appraisal criteria that requires managers to mark them on their pursuit of “fairer outcomes”, demonstrate “inclusive educational practice” and “actively champion initiatives to promote diversity and fairness in our community”.
Thirteen academics are trying to defeat the new marking criteria at a vote of the university’s senate on Thursday night, claiming it “would create significant new legal and institutional risks for the university”.
In a letter to the senate, the rebels cite how they may be “deemed non-inclusive” for committing the “prohibited microaggression [of] criticism of the Chinese Government’s Covid policies”.
The academics warn: “An academic who believes any of these things, or who criticises Chinese Government policies, will soon be able to complain to regulators under the new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill on grounds that the university is failing to meet its positive legal duty to ‘take steps to secure freedom of speech’.”
They added: “Worse, this video gives academics a reason to fear that such criticism could result in their being subjected to disciplinary action under the university’s new ‘zero tolerance’ approach to microaggressions.”
They also fear they could be punished for not making student marks “more equal”, due to there being no consensus on what constitutes “fair outcomes”, and may be marked down for not endorsing the university’s guidance on decolonising curricula to ensure it does not “reflect a western-dominated view”.
Worth reading in full.
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