Sussex to teach classes on how to deal with right wing attitudes

The Daily Telegraph published an article yesterday revealing accusations of Sussex University undermining free speech as posters appeared inviting professors and PhD students to an “informal discussion” on how to deal with “right wing attitudes and politics in the classroom”.

The meeting, which took place last week, and its unashamed blatant advertising in university buildings has been a matter of controversy in the university. There have been complaints of the university not only showing its own political bias, but silencing the voices of students who hold right wing opinions.

Dan Hough, a politics professor at Sussex, tweeted a photo of the poster captioned: “Perhaps, erm, we should just talk about, analyse and then evaluate all positions in any given debate, no?!”

Sussex students have become infamous over the years for their alternative and liberal views politics and as Harry Howard, a third year history and politics student, wrote in his blog post for the Telegraph, right wing students may feel they are in a minority.

Vice Chancellor, Adam Tickell, said in an email sent to all students: “Whilst the intention was to explore how to handle racism and homophobia, as a powerful blog by one of our students points out, conservative students feel diminished and excluded by their lecturers.

“Racism and homophobia exist across the political spectrum and there should be no elision between right wing politics and extremism. Indeed, I have been invited to attend a meeting next week by the Labour Students Society to explore anti-Semitism on the left.”

This is the second time in the past month that Sussex has made national news after a “hate incident” involving Nazi imagery appearing around campus.

The Vice Chancellor ended his email by saying: “Please could you all ensure that you continue to challenge each other in such a way that respects different opinions and voices?”