The British magazine Spiked has published a list ranking British universities as to their stance on free speech on campus; green for free, amber for intervention and red for outright censorship. I am dismayed but not at all surprised to find that neither of the two universities I attended (Durham) and am familiar with from my postgraduate days (Edinburgh) - are in the green category.
Looking back at my undergraduate days at Durham, one of the things I am quite thankful for is my attendance at various, student-organized far-left environmental groups both in Durham and elsewhere (Oxford). It allowed me to realize relatively early on (at least compared to most people in my generation), that they could not be trusted to tell the truth and that I had been completely wrong about them. That was possibly the most consequential lesson I learned at Durham.
On Edinburgh - I have said this before, but it is worth saying again - I still often miss that city very much, but, with a few exceptions, I cannot say the same about the people I knew there.
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