BY SOPHIE CORCORAN

The last few years we have heard over and over again about left-wing indoctrination in universities, but I never quite realised how bad it would actually be.

Many have labelled it as some kind of ‘conservative fantasy’, but recently I have had the misfortune of experiencing it first hand and I can confirm that Marxist indoctrination is very much out in full force across our university campuses.

I’m a first-year student at Durham University, and within three days we were ‘trained’ on ‘white privilege, unconscious bias and colonialism’ in a college introduction — not a political debate, a mandatory college introduction — where no one was able to question the ideology that was being forced down our throats.

The teaching of white privilege and unconscious bias is deeply divisive and unnecessary, it exacerbates racism by encouraging people to only notice the colour of someone’s skin and focus on characteristics as opposed to character — the exact opposite of what we should be trying to achieve.

The university claimed that it was essential in building an inclusive society, but I really don’t think separating society into microsegments based on race and then pitting them against each other is going to be in any way effective at creating an inclusive environment.

Durham is not the only university to discuss these ridiculous ideals. The university of Kent has made their students undergo mandatory woke training including topics such as pronouns and microaggressions, not to mention a white privilege quiz. In addition to this, the university of St Andrews had to complete a ‘diversity’ module where they had to ‘accept their personal guilt’ in order to pass.

Universities are actively pushing divide and conquer tactics where white people are made to feel ashamed of who they are just because of the colour of their skin. That’s racism. Universities are actively encouraging racism under the disguise of ‘anti-racism’. Not only this, but we have also recently seen students in The University of Sussex actively harass Kathleen Stock because of her gender critical views, they even demanded Sussex terminate her employment at the university through a number of signs that were plastered all over the university’s walls stating things like ‘we’re not paying £9250 per year for transphobia, fire Kathleen Stock’.

As we can see, students aren’t the only victims of the toxic left-wing cult that is university. Cancel culture in educational institutions has been a hot topic for debate this year, however, the blame is usually put on universities as opposed to who I think the blame really lies on: the students themselves.

My generation are the generation who are responsible for the catastrophic rise in cancel culture.

Every time I or another free-thinking student across the country dares open our mouths and question the views that universities are forcing upon us, we are always told to ‘be careful’, be careful of the consequences for refusing to follow the line and stay silent. My question is, why should we be careful?

Why should we have to feel fearful about questioning ideas in an educational institution when its very purpose is for students to explore and raise different ideas and perspectives and to think freely?

Cancel culture is a massive issue throughout university and the de-platforming of speakers and cancelling of students is just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is the self-censoring of students because they are scared of the potential consequences they will face just for having their own views. Students are being silenced before they have even had the chance to open their mouths and speak. This is not promoting an inclusive culture. This is not encouraging tolerance. In actual fact, those who claim to be the ‘tolerant’ ones are usually the most intolerant of other people’s views.

Many universities have ‘committed’ themselves to ‘uphold freedom of speech’, but judging by their actions, that is just a slogan rather than a policy.

It is deeply concerning that most UK educational institutions are pushing left wing political views on their students, only offering one singular perspective and trying to silence any student that tries to go against the grain. Educational institutions should be encouraging students to think for themselves, not think for them.

Sophie Corcoran is a freelance journalist and student.