Dan Morfitt, head of music at Sheffield University's student radio station, has argued, 'We're all over 18 and are unlikely to be turned into bigots by a couple of lines in a song'. But students have been treated like little kids for ages now - and they have often played along. Students willingly bring their parents to interviews, think it's acceptable to cry in lectures and clamour for their 'right' to protection from the random nastinesses that lurk in the outside world. It's fine to treat students as adult enough to listen to Eminem - but they have to be treated like adults when the essay deadline is looming, too. But insofar as ideas get a look-in in today's UK university, it is within a pretty unquestioning culture.
Nobody is supposed to criticise each other, for that is academic bullying.
I couldn't bear to read this book', proclaimed a classmate of mine during a seminar on Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim , citing his 'views about women' as the reason why she couldn't do her homework. And that was four years ago. Of course it is wrong to ban Eminem. But given the current state of universities, and the low expectations people have of students and that students seem to have of themselves, you would be surprised if the union chiefs at Sheffield hadn't issued a ban. The moral of this story is that there are hard arguments to be had about free speech on campus - about why extremist groups should be allowed to address students, and about why outlawing language that is racist, sexist and generally 'intolerant' is wrong.