LSE Coincidence

After spending a week reading and commenting about Derek Black's book "Rising out of Hatred" a similar situation has arisen at LSE - see this article. Here is the students' union response:-

" The LSESU is aware that The London School of Economics admitted in its 2018/19 cohort a student who was an active participant in the August 2017 Unite the Right rally protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

We strongly condemn the views espoused at the rally and the actions of its participants. The Union is committed to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. Nonetheless, as graduate selections are made on the basis of the strength of an individual's application, they will remain an LSE student unless they are in breach of School regulations or commit an act of misconduct during their time at the school, that results in disciplinary action. Notwithstanding the facts of this particular case, LSE must not lose sight of the wider structural issues and engage in a serious audit of its efforts to make the School truly diverse and inclusive.

At present the LSE has no permanent Division Head for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and there is much more that can be done to create the diverse, inclusive and supportive community our student body deserves. The school have made steps in the right direction through tangible support for the Black History Month 2018 programme.

At this time, LSE students deserve a robust response and plan to support students. The LSESU will engage the school in dialogue on this matter and related concerns."

This statement seems reasonable, and appears to be enabling a "free speech zone". Hopefully the LSE will be more welcoming so long as Peter is not promoting violent actions; I would hope that promotion of violent actions would merit disciplinary action (by school regulations). This LSE SU statement for me indicates a lack of censorship, a lack of PC-Authoritarianism, which is in my view so negative.

Apparently there is a rally today "Protest against Hate", good - this protest is an expression of free speech. I hope the students are sensible enough not to turn violent.

However I am sure there is far more going on than I am aware of. I am just writing this because of the coincidence.