Frenzy in the Fens
Don’t be mistaken: this matters
Academics often console themselves with Kissinger’s bon mot that the reason university politics is so vicious is because the stakes are so small. And yet in the midst of these eerily peaceful plague months in the Fens disagreements have been aired in which the stakes have never seemed greater, distilling as they have so many aspects of the broader national debate over balancing fundamental liberties of conscience and expression against the avoidance of psychological harm.
Intramurally, the source of these disagreements can crudely but plausibly be characterised as a tension between two distinct visions of the purpose of a university. The Truth-Seeking Vision insists that the university’s overriding aim should be the preservation, pursuit, and promotion of truth.
The Truth-Seekers further believe that the importance of that aim justifies the frictions and rivalries that inevitably arise, especially in demanding intellectual environments populated by brilliant but eccentric individuals more prone than most to idiosyncratic behaviour.
By contrast, the Coddling Vision insists that although truth-seeking is a laudable and important aim, it should never supersede the greater goal of pursuing equality, diversity, and inclusion, or of maximising the psychological wellbeing of its members.
As it happens, the Truth-Seeking Vision and the Coddling Vision do not come into open conflict quite as often as breathless press reports might lead one to imagine, though that is because tensions are almost always quietly resolved in favour of the Coddlers. Towards the end of last year, however, something unexpected happened:
