Oxford University students who avoid making eye contact with their peers could be guilty of racism. The university’s Equality and Diversity Unit has advised undergraduate students that “not speaking directly to people” could be deemed a “racial micro-aggression” which could lead to “mental ill-health”, The Telegraph reported.
Issued at the start of the Trinity term, the third term at the university, the newsletter claims that asking someone where they are “originally” from implies they are foreigners. It also claims that “jokes drawing attention to someone’s differences” and “not speaking directly to people” are potential forms of “everyday racism”.
The newsletter says “some people who do these things may be entirely well-meaning, and would be mortified to realise that they had caused offence. But this is of little consequence if a possible effect of their words or actions is to suggest to people that they may fulfil a negative stereotype.”
However, critics argue this will make the students over-sensitive. Dr Joanna Williams, a lecturer in higher education at the University of Kent, said the guidance was “completely ridiculous” and would make students “hyper-sensitive” about how they interact with one another.
“Essentially people are being accused of a thought crime. They are being accused of incorrect thoughts based on an assumption of where they may or may not be looking.”
Williams, the author of “Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity,” said the guidance was “overstepping the mark” by telling students “how they should feel and think”.
Tom Slater, co-coordinator of The Free Speech University Ranking project, that highlights censorship on university campuses, claimed it was all part of a chilling desire on the part of university authorities to police not just opinions, but “everyday conversations between students,” he told The Times.
