Oxford Dons are “Irrationally Punishing” Undergraduates: Expert Responds to Rhodes Strike Threat
10 June 2021
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In the Media
Christopher Snowdon writes for Spiked
10 June 2021
In the Media
Marc Glendening quoted in the Daily Mail
11 June 2021
Lifestyle Economics
15 November 2024
Commenting on the decision by 150 Oxford University tutors to go on strike over the Rhodes statue row, Marc Glendening, Head of Cultural Affairs at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
“It is extraordinary that these academics are prepared to compromise the educational futures of students whose fees of £9,000 a year help to keep Oxford university in business.
“While the tutors are perfectly entitled to express their illiberal political values and demands, Oxford University should examine whether they will be breaching their conditions of employment if they carry out their threats.
“Oriel students should consider waging a counter-campaign against the individual academics concerned. This could involve highlighting the fact that the undergraduates are being collectively and irrationally punished for a matter and decision over which they are not in any way responsible.”
Responding to Magdalen College students removing a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, Marc Glendening said:
“The decision, taken on the grounds that Her Majesty represents ‘colonial history’ and her image could thus trigger emotionally traumatic reactions in some students, is indicative of the sinister Culture Control New Left ideology that is now dominant in virtually every sector of British civil society.
“What is alarming is not that individuals hold the views that they do on these issues, but that this is often accompanied by a Cultural Year Zero-style desire to suppress all opposition and forcibly eradicate traces of the past and present that the Culture Control New Left disapprove of.
“There is a distinct whiff of authoritarian intolerance relating to such incidents.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Contact: Emily Carver, Head of Media, 07715941731
IEA spokespeople are available for interview or further comment.
“It is extraordinary that these academics are prepared to compromise the educational futures of students whose fees of £9,000 a year help to keep Oxford university in business.
“While the tutors are perfectly entitled to express their illiberal political values and demands, Oxford University should examine whether they will be breaching their conditions of employment if they carry out their threats.
“Oriel students should consider waging a counter-campaign against the individual academics concerned. This could involve highlighting the fact that the undergraduates are being collectively and irrationally punished for a matter and decision over which they are not in any way responsible.”
Responding to Magdalen College students removing a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, Marc Glendening said:
“The decision, taken on the grounds that Her Majesty represents ‘colonial history’ and her image could thus trigger emotionally traumatic reactions in some students, is indicative of the sinister Culture Control New Left ideology that is now dominant in virtually every sector of British civil society.
“What is alarming is not that individuals hold the views that they do on these issues, but that this is often accompanied by a Cultural Year Zero-style desire to suppress all opposition and forcibly eradicate traces of the past and present that the Culture Control New Left disapprove of.
“There is a distinct whiff of authoritarian intolerance relating to such incidents.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Contact: Emily Carver, Head of Media, 07715941731
IEA spokespeople are available for interview or further comment.
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This is all good stuff and to the point, but, even more to the point, as the Institute of ECONOMIC Affairs, why not be mischievous and point out that what Oriel should be doing is saying: Fine, statue goes when the Rhodes Scholarship goes, any takers? African and Asian, amongst other beneficiaries, are legion.