Cowards in Coventry

 

   I am writing again about the terrible difficulties students now encounter when they get to the campuses. Although some faculty members, and even more administrators, attempt to ameliorate them, stories appear daily about the fraught situations experienced in the shadows of the ivory towers. Surprisingly these episodes typically don't bother to mention the fears faced by those who suddenly realize they have to take organic chemistry, or know some arithmetic in order to pass the economics exam. The humanities can be hard, as well, it appears and the anxieties requiring action and reduction are widespread and found even in old England.

   The 'horrific' thing about which students needed to be warned, involved the reading of Ivanhoe, which should be undertaken only by those who are brave enough to learn that this work of fiction "contains 'offensive' depictions of black slaves and Arab Muslims captives who are prejudiced against Jews..." The headlines this time are about the University of Warwick, which is much closer to Coventry than Warwick and here are some samples: "University of Warwick Branded 'Cowards" For Putting Trigger Warnings on 'Offensive' Text," and "Warwick University Blasted Over Sir Walter Scott 'Racism' Row". In that article, a descendent of Scott expresses his displeasure:

"But the author’s great-great-great-great grandson, Matthew Maxwell Scott, has hit back at the academics, describing the move as a “coward’s charter”.
He said: “Today, social media and the growth of academia provide new playgrounds for the modern bully. Long-deceased artists are a particular target.”
Mr Maxwell Scott, a trustee of his ancestor’s residence at Abbotsford in Melrose, where the famous novelist died in 1832, said the university’s warning was “disappointing”, adding: “We seem to have lost the ability to appreciate an artistic output as a product of its time."

  The first article listed above is not quite correct. It had already been decided at Warwick that the expression, "Trigger Warning" should be replaced by a "Content Note", since the use of the word "trigger" itself could be alarming because of its relation to guns. It is also the case that the University of Warwick was not responsible for the issuance of the warning, although they were coolly supportive of it:

"A spokesperson for the University of Warwick said: “We believe students should be exposed to challenging ideas, stories and themes through their studies and view it as an essential part of learning and understanding different perspectives. That’s why the university does not ask departments to issue content notice [Trigger Warnings] for course materials.

“However, a small number of departments and academics choose to do so, making their own judgement and rationale for deciding on what guidance they feel may be needed for the coursework they set.

“We fully respect our colleagues right to exercise their academic freedom in this way, but the practice remains rare within the university with less than one per cent of our overall curriculum including any content guidance.”

One is reminded of the recent case I mentioned at USC, where the university chose to put some distance between itself and the School of Social Work which thought it a good idea to eliminate the word "Field" (perplexed? See, "Out in Left Field.") 

   The irony of some wokery did not go unnoticed by someone who re-read Ivanhoe to see what the fuss was about. 

"It is a benefit of wokery that it prompts one to look anew. I was always slightly ashamed that I had never read a novel by Walter Scott. Over Christmas, however, it was reported that Warwick University’s English department had issued trigger warnings to students against ‘offensive’ passages in Ivanhoe about ‘people of colour’ and the attribution to Muslims of anti-Semitic sentiments. I blew the dust off my Victorian edition and read it. Almost needless to say, the warning makes no allowance for the fact that the novel is set in the Middle Ages and fictionalises the attitudes of that time, rather than merely reflecting Scott’s own views. But the much more important point is that the most gripping part of the narrative is its vivid assault on anti-Semitism, personified in the superb character of Rebecca, daughter of the usurer, Isaac of York – sexy, brave, strong yet modest, loving a Gentile (I won’t tell you who), but faithful to her Judaism. I have rarely read a more truly anti-racist novel. Of this, the Warwick woke wardens make no mention."

The Bonus: 

  There is more irony to be found if one looks at the actual syllabus in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick. Here is the "Content Note" ["Trigger Warning"] which is not unreasonable, but unfortunate in that it is required:

Content Note [Trigger Warning]

"Across the texts on this module, you will repeatedly come across (often casual) racist, xenophobic, sexist, classist slurs and attitudes. So too, allusions to potentially disturbing content such as sexual violence, violence (sometimes fatal) to others, suicide, animal cruelty, distressing scenes of death, are common. I want you to feel comfortable in talking to me about this one-on-one or in class. These are integral aspects of many texts and will at times be engaged with as part of our critical discourse."

This next note is the scarier warning:

PLEASE TAKE NOTE:

"The reading load on this module is comparatively heavy. Many of our books are in excess of 500 pages as this reflects the size of many key texts from the period. Although all large novels are split over at least 2 weeks of study, there is also weekly critical reading and the instalment of the serialised text. Students this year have found tactics such as audiobooks in consultation with the written text handy, and have fed back that the load was manageable, but you should think carefully before selecting a number of novel-heavy modules. You will also GREATLY benefit from doing some summer reading if you can."

Sources: 

  Headlines about the Warwick affair are easily found, especially in conservative publications which like to make fun of such things (we all should.) The re-reader of Ivanhoe is Charles Moore and the quotation is from The Spectator, Jan.21, 2023. 

  The incident is also mentioned in this Times article which is worth consulting.

"Plan to Appoint Guardian of Free Speech is Welcome But Government Should Set the Tone of the Debate," Melanie Phillips, Jan. 16. 2023:

"The government is making efforts to tackle the madness of identity politics over race, gender and western colonialism. The crucible of the attempt to coerce conformity with these faddish ideas is the university campus. Students require “safe spaces” from any challenge to these orthodoxies; visiting speakers who oppose this dogma are silenced; and academics run the gauntlet of intimidation and professional ruin if they express a dissenting opinion.

Last year, the government imposed a requirement on higher education providers in England to safeguard free speech as a condition of their funding, with financial penalties if they failed to do so. Now it is about to appoint a “free speech tsar” with the power to investigate universities that censure academics for their views. The leading candidate is Arif Ahmed, a Cambridge philosophy professor who has spoken out strongly against the suppression of academic ideas. 

A new report by the think tank Civitas shows, however, that the rot in the universities goes far wider and deeper than the issue of free speech. Some 62 per cent of universities have issued “trigger warnings” alerting students to material deemed potentially harmful or worrying. “White privilege” has been mentioned by 56 per cent in their online guidance to staff and students, and 70 per cent are either formally committed to decolonisation or have academic staff promoting it.

The Civitas Report referred to is "Free Speech and Decolonisation in British Universities," Dr. Richard Norrie, Oct. 2022. It is found here. It is 20 pages long and here is the "Overview:"

• 70 per cent of UK universities are undertaking some form of decolonisation – either by official university policies/statements or academics within the university advocating for it. 

• There were 374 free speech controversies in UK universities between January 2017 and August 2020 – 123 were related to transgenderism and 14 were related to Islam. 

• Free speech controversies occur more frequently in universities which have official policies/ statements on decolonisation, as well as academic advocates of decolonisation – as too do free speech societies. 

• Free speech controversies tend to accompany transgender-related restrictions on free speech as well as decolonisation. These are considerably more common in ‘better’ universities and – to some degree – in the universities which have low levels of student satisfaction. They also tend to go hand in hand with free speech societies. • The presence of free speech societies in universities tends to be positively and moderately associated with transgender restrictions, decolonisation measures and free speech controversies. They are also more common in better universities. 

• However, correlations are mostly moderate, implying these things can happen at any university.