Our universities are producing snowflakes

If you want to know everything there is to know as to what is wrong with Western universities, simply consider two incidents that occurred in 2018 that make clear the sad, mad state higher education is in. Both come out of the UK and both show us that the West is doomed if we allow these snowflake students to run our nations in the near future.

The UK Telegraph ran each story over a two-day period. Sadly, they confirm the disease we know as Western college education: they show us the decrepit state of left-wing, politically correct activism passing for intelligence today. The headline is frightening enough: “Student union president causes outrage after vowing to take down war memorial mural because it contains only white men”. Here is how the report opens . . . A Student Union President has caused outrage after she vowed to remove a mural commemorating students who died in World War One because it contains only white men. Emily Dawes – who leads the University of Southampton Student Union – was widely condemned after tweeting: “Mark my words – we’re taking down the mural of white men in the university's Senate room, even if I have to paint over it myself.”

The Rothenstein memorial, to which she refers, depicts an unnamed student receiving a degree from the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge: a representation of all the young men who lost their lives in the war and therefore unable to complete their degrees. It was painted in 1916 by Sir William Rothenstein, former Principal of the Royal College of Art, and presented to the University of Southampton in 1959 by the artist’s son, Sir John Rothenstein. It features many key academics from the era of the Great War, including vice-chancellors and chancellors and the-then poet laureate Robert Bridges. Other panels of the mural feature young war poets who lost their lives in battle. It's not clear whether she was aware of the significance of the memorial, although she had tweeted linking it to Armistice Day.

There are way too many lefty snowflakes taking offence at everything. But wait, it gets even worse! Consider a Telegraph article from October 24. If this does not tell you how bad our snowflake students have become, nothing will: “Oxford students vote to ban Christian group from college as it would threaten their physical and mental safety.” The students voted overwhelmingly in favour of banning the Christian pro-life and pro-family group Christian Concern. They had wanted to hold a camp next summer on one of the premises, but the students – led by homosexual activists – felt threatened by this move. The head of Christian Concern is neither threatening nor dangerous: she cares greatly about the UK and where it is heading.

In their “About Us” page Christian Concern says this . . . “We have a passion to see the United Kingdom return to the Christian faith. Our nation has been shaped and defined by this faith for hundreds of years. Yet in the last few decades, the nation has largely turned her back on Jesus and embraced alternative ideas such as secular liberal humanism, moral relativism and sexual licence. The fruit of this can be seen in widespread family breakdown, immorality and social disintegration, but we believe that this nation has a hope, and that hope can be found in Jesus Christ. On this basis we seek to awaken the Church. We need to be passionate about our faith and become a light and a witness to the nation.

“Whilst engaging with the Church, we want to work to infuse a Biblical world view into every aspect of society. We want to be a strong Christian voice in the public sphere, arguing passionately for the truth of the gospel and defending the historic freedoms that we have enjoyed in this nation for so long. We believe that by doing so, society as a whole will benefit. We seek to highlight injustice, change public opinion on issues of key importance and affect policy at the highest levels. We engage on a broad range of issues, including abortion, adoption and fostering, bioethics, marriage, education, employment, end of life, equality, family, free speech, Islamism, religious freedom, the sex trade, social issues and issues relating to sexual orientation”.

In a statement to The Christian Post, Christian Concern said this about the decision of the college. “We are perplexed as to how the historic Christian view of marriage, gender and sanctity of life would constitute a threat to students’ physical and mental safety. We have held nine other academies in Oxbridge colleges. Students there have been able to cope and neither we, nor those universities, have heard of any harm caused by our events. On the contrary, we've often been told that we were exemplary guests . . . It is disappointing that the college and its students would appear to feel so threatened by an event promoting the same Christian values of which Oxford University has so clearly been shaped”.

Political correctness, rampant leftism and a snowflake culture that takes offence at everything are now overwhelming universities in the West. Not only do Christians and conservatives suffer as a result, but so too does truth itself. Heaven help the West if this madness is allowed to continue.