Last night I chatted with a social science department leader at one of London's oldest unis. He is exasperated because he says a small group of students run things, they call everything racist or transphobic, they pick apart everything before it can be taught to them. He has had
students coming up to him to say they're not enjoying the classes because they're afraid to say anything in case the 'others' call them bigots. It has made some staff totally silent in fear for their jobs, several have had formal 'investigations' for saying something harmless
about race or gender (in a subject about understanding people) that students reported them for. Some staff have joined in, wanting to show they 'get it' and have been heartedly agreeing with censoring, pronouns, cancelling, etc. He told me that someone put @JonHaidt's book
in his pigeonhole anonymously with a note saying teach this, and he doesn't know if it's a cry for help from a colleague or a student. This is a top uni that's competitive to get in to, and the majority of students are having the worst education experience in a culture of fear
and shaming. I gave him @HadleyFreeman's clip about how some younger people want a civil rights movement and think this is how to go about it. But it doesn't explain the staff members, and the students who are in their thirties and forties joining in.
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