Should book trigger warnings and bans at universities be reversed?
Institutions criticised for ‘cosseting students’ by axing ‘challenging’ texts
At least ten UK universities have removed books from course study lists or made the texts optional in order to protect students from “challenging” content, an investigation has found.
According to The Times, Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad, which won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, has been “removed permanently” from a reading list at Essex University because of concerns about graphic depictions of slavery.
Other targeted texts include Swedish writer August Strindberg’s 1888 play Miss Julie, which has been axed from an undergraduate literature module at Sussex University because it contains discussion of suicide.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The two universities “are thought to be the first in the UK that have purged books altogether”, said The Telegraph.
Another eight institutions, “including Russell Group members Warwick, Exeter and Glasgow, have made texts optional to protect students’ welfare”, The Times reported.
The paper sent almost 300 freedom of information requests to officials at universities across the UK, and uncovered 1,081 examples of trigger warnings across undergraduate courses. Influential British authors including William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens were reportedly “among those whose works have been deemed concerning enough to require warnings”.
The investigation also found that students had been given trigger warnings before studying The Bible, because of “shocking sexual violence”, and Oliver Twist, because of “child abuse”.
‘Cosseting students’
The practice of censoring “challenging” university texts “should cease before it goes any further”, said The Times in its leader yesterday. “Cosseting students is no part of the ethos of education.”
The paper described trigger warnings as a “corrosive phenomenon” and argued that students “who take offence at the content of books they are set should be told, civilly but firmly, that if their sensibilities need protecting then the academy is not the place for them”.
A string of high-profile figures have also spoken out against the censorship of books.
“This is pretty terrifying,” tweeted broadcaster Mariella Frostrup in response to the investigation findings. “Do we burn them next?” The Mail on Sunday columnist and fellow Twitter user Dan Hodges asked how such bans were “possible in a British University in 2022”.
Trevor Phillips, chair of the Index on Censorship, said withdrawing texts over descriptions of slavery was “fatuous, patronising and profoundly racist”. Tory leader hopeful Liz Truss agreed that universities “should not be mollycoddling students like this”.
‘Inclusive environment’
On the other side of the argument, historian Caroline Dodds Pennock accused The Times of an “embarrassing” exaggeration of the situation at Britain’s universities. “Two books. Universities removed two books. In the entire country,” she tweeted.
Liam Thorp, political editor at the Liverpool Echo, was equally scathing. “As the UK braces for potential blackouts, soaring poverty and suffering – The Times thinks the major story of the day is a couple of books not being taught at a few universities anymore,” Thorp tweeted.
Aberdeen University faced criticism last week for putting a trigger warning on the Old English epic poem Beowulf, which dates back to between the eighth and eleventh centuries.
In response, a spokesperson for the university told regional newspaper The Press and Journal that “this approach enables us to explore controversial topics that could otherwise be difficult to address in an inclusive and supportive environment”.
The “guidelines on content warnings” were “developed in collaboration with student representatives”, and students “have expressed their admiration for our approach”, the spokesperson added.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
The art world and motherhood: the end of a final taboo?
Talking Point Hettie Judah's new touring exhibition offers a 'riveting riposte' to old cliches
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Indie film's 'very brief' use of AI sparks backlash and calls for boycotts
Talking Points Did the creators of a new horror movie make a deal with the artificial intelligence devil?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Are plug-in hybrids better for America's climate goals?
Talking Points The car industry considers a 'slower, but more plausible path' to reducing emissions
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Richard, My Richard: Philippa Gregory's 'nuanced portrait' of Richard III is heavy on the history
Talking Point Women are centre stage but play has 'something of a structural problem'
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
Glastonbury line-up: the 'poppiest, shiniest' bill ever
Talking Point Dua Lipa, Coldplay, SZA and Shania Twain will star, but some fans are 'underwhelmed'
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
Can Beyoncé save country music's reputation?
Talking Point First black woman to top the Billboard country charts could finally break down the genre's racist stereotype
By The Week UK Published
-
Is Bridget Jones still relevant in the 2020s?
Talking Point Dating scene and relationship power dynamics have changed since heroine's heyday
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Saltburn's mansion and the TV locations 'invaded by selfie-hunters'
Talking Point Tourists flock to familiar sights from Saltburn, One Day and Emily in Paris, but locals are less than impressed
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published