As debate surrounding the University of Lincoln’s Students’ Union suspending the Conservative Society’s social media snowballs, politicians and the national media have also been responding to the news.
Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan tweeted yesterday saying:
Lincoln University Conservatives complained that their student union was weak on free speech. It responded by suspending their social media. https://t.co/e7WSrsVPB8
— Daniel Hannan (@DanielJHannan) March 6, 2017
Meanwhile, James Cleverly, the Conservative MP for Braintree, said the SU’s decision was “beyond parody”.
Lincoln’s MP Karl McCartney has reacted strongly to the news, likening the Students’ Union’s actions to “the Soviet Union or North Korea”.
Aside from politicians, spoof reporter Jonathan Pie – who performed at SU venue The Platform in October – said the actions of the SU “boils [his] f***ing p***”.
(WARNING: Strong and potentially offensive language in tweet below)
I’m a leftie but I’m also a liberal and this boils my fucking piss! https://t.co/hgJFVT1p5w
— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) March 7, 2017
Controversial right-wing journalist Milo Yiannopolous – who has himself been banned from Twitter but has almost 2 million Facebook likes – shared the Hull University Conservative Association’s message of support for their Lincoln colleagues on his Facebook page.
The news has been covered extensively in local and national media, with BBC Look North running it as their leading story last night.
The Telegraph, The Express, The Tab, The Spectator, and Guido Fawkes have all reported on the story.
The issue was also covered on national talk radio station LBC on Tuesday night.
Yesterday also saw Spiked – the online magazine responsible for giving Lincoln its ‘red’ status for freedom of speech – release a statement.
They said: “This is beyond parody. An SU has handed down a ban to students for saying it’s too ban-happy. Lincoln Students’ Union’s own Safe Space policy claims that it will ‘ensure a balance of opinions’. But clearly this does not extend to opinions that the SU disagrees with.
“Spiked founded the Free Speech University Ratings precisely so that students could use it to pressure campus authorities into repealing censorious practices.
“That some student groups are not even allowed to publicly criticise their own unions just shows how bad campus censorship has become.”
The conservative society has decided to ‘continue to comply with the proper SU procedures’. Perhaps it’s time students chucked out the SU rulebook altogether, and made a stand against these institutions that so clearly hold them in contempt.”
The University of Lincoln Students’ Union responded to the news by saying they cannot comment on the decision taken against the Conservative Society for “obvious reasons”,but went on to add that they are “proud to protect the rights of all individuals to express their opinions, ideas and concerns”.
So, can an Alumnus make a complaint about this misuse of the union system to censor someone for complaining about censorship?
The complainant must surely have known that this would bring the SU into disrepute through this kind of media circus. They should have to face the same system.
lmao I love it