Brittisk universitetsstudent varnar för fientlighet mot konservativa på campus | NTD NYHETER

Last week we covered the case of a British university student. He was summoned to a college hearing over conservative views in a private WhatsApp group chat. NTD's Dana Monahan spoke with the group's founder about the challenges that she says outspoken conservative students face on today's campuses. Samik Shabbat-Acharjee is a student at University College London, a political commentator, author, and president of the university's Libertarian Society. So we as a society focus on three key pillars, so free speech, free minds, and free markets, which is especially lacking in the UK. Earlier this year, the Libertarian Society hosted a discussion on women's rights and single-sex spaces featuring Connie Shaw of the Free Speech Union. Shabbat-Acharjee says the event drew protests and sexualized threats. Gender is one of those contentious topics where you face, well, absolute backlash whenever you want to talk about it because people feel like you're directly attacking them and their identity. Shabbat-Acharjee says standing up to what she calls the woke orthodoxy has made her one of the most hated people on her campus. I have been verbally abused. I have lost many of my friends who disagree with my opinions. I would never cancel somebody for their opinions, but they feel that because I'm far right, supposedly, for standing up for common sense, they can't be friends with me, they can't interact with me. The Libertarian Society president says the anti-conservative bias isn't just among the students but extends to the staff as well. They publicly said that they did not agree with this event, they did not want it to go ahead. So they apologized and they said that if you were offended by any of the abuse, you can have support. Nobody came up to me to ask me if I needed any support after I was abused online and in person. Nobody cared, but they were obviously caring more about their hearty feelings of those who they politically agreed with. Bhattacharjee argues the student union should represent students across the political spectrum, regardless of viewpoint. We have an equity and inclusion officer. We have a women's officer, but we don't have a men's officer. And the women's officer can't even define what a woman is. Bhattacharjee, also the vice president of Turning Point UK Society, says she is definitely worried about her safety and that political violence from the left is increasing. But it's something we have to do. I mean, if I'm not speaking out, if people like me aren't speaking out, then who is? You should be tackling bad ideas or what do you think are bad ideas with better ideas. You should be debating it out, talking it out. Bhattacharjee feels the anti-conservative bias is also at the top levels of government, with conservative commentators being blocked from even entering the UK at all. I was at the Unite the Kingdom rally. So what that was, was a patriotic march of tens of thousands of people gathering. And it was supposed to also have foreign influencers and speakers coming in and talking and their ETAs, their electronic travel authorizations, were blocked. The university college student shares a message to those contemplating making their voices heard. I would say to any conservative student to actually speak out because sure, you might lose friends, but if they're cutting you off purely because of your political opinions, they weren't true friends in the first place. You need to be able to stand up for your opinions. There's not many of us. Bhattacharjee says groups like Academics for Academic Freedom give her hope that more professors are understanding the need and value of free speech. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News.