University of Lincoln's Conservative Student Group Censored for Complaining About Censorship
Students lose social media access for pointing out that Lincoln doesn't respect free speech.
Talk about proving a point. The University of Lincoln's student union has suspended a conservative student group's social media accounts—an act of retaliation against the group for daring to criticize the student union's hostility toward free speech.
In effect, the British university's student government is censoring students because they objected to censorship.
"Just to reiterate the irony of this situation," wrote a different conservative club at another university, "their student union, upon being criticized for being anti-free speech, have silenced those complaining about a lack of free speech!"
What happened was this: Lincoln's Conservative Society tweeted a link to Spiked magazine's Free Speech University Rankings, which do not hold Lincoln's student union in high esteem.
Someone in the student union most have noticed—the conservatives were accused of "bring[ing] the University of Lincoln Students' Union and the University of Lincoln into disrepute," according to spiked.
In response, the student union forced the Conservative Society off of social media until May 1. Student unions at British universities, unfortunately, enjoy broad censorship powers (this is what happens when you don't have a First Amendment).
Due to SU orders this Twitter account will no longer be active. We hope to return on 1st May. Sorry for any inconvenience.
— Conservative Society (@LincConSoc) March 6, 2017
Lincoln students may not have the right to criticize their overlords, but we do. Here is the University of Lincoln Student Union's Twitter page. Let its leaders know how you feel about the way they handle dissent.