To Censor or Not to Censor...that is the question.

https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/uk-news/957602/trigger-censorship-books-universities-reversed

Stepping away a bit from my usual Hints and Tips blogposts (they will be back!), in the light of the results coming out for Scottish students I find this article interesting as it makes me wonder how many students are eagerly anticipating their first semesters only to be told "whoops, you aren't studying that anymore....no, no, no, far too dangerous for your young mind". (Okay I will admit I am being somewhat facetious here, so I will clarify). In actuality it is only two Universities in the whole of the UK who are actually banning books and perhaps a certain newspaper has blown it out of proportion somewhat considering that other Universities are offering certain texts as optional studying, which is nothing new. When I was a lowly undergraduate (lowly?! where did that come from?) I did a whole module on what was then termed "Queer Literature" and another on Tropical Gothic, both of which were prefixed by a "some of the texts we are studying on this course contain material which may be of an upsetting nature..." type of disclaimer and an offer to talk if such things got on top of the students as well as the option to withdraw before teaching began. This was enough for us in my view, because we had already made the choice. We had chosen our degree, chosen our modules, we had committed in our hearts as I saw it, to complete this challenge through hell and high water and we were simply being reminded of the nature of the choice and offered it once more for the sake of safety. We were being treated like adults.

Is this not the purpose of University? To offer this opportunity to choose and to realise the nature of our choices (this is starting to sound like The Matrix..."the problem is choice"). These choices might then shape who we become, the kind of academic, the interests we have, the way in which we think and comprehend. I remember being told at some point in my life, (but I can't remember who) that "all knowledge is useful, even if you don't realise it at the time" and to be honest, some of the books I have read, some of which still make me uneasy, have given me useful knowledge that I have brought into my work with students perhaps not literally, but emotionally and empathically. If we start taking choices away from students then, driving them in a particular way toward what we class as being safe and protected, are we not robbing them of some part of the University experience and the development of necessary "objectivity" when dealing with sensitive material. I am thinking here of the Alan Bennet play The History Boys, and the line from Irwin "But this is History. Distance yourselves".

This kind of talk is all well and good however and I am fully aware that some people may have gone through experiences far more traumatic than I and so may be far more affected by particular material. Telling them to then "be objective" is no help at all. From my professional experience, I know of more than one individual who has had mental triggers set off by their studying of a particular course which, in one case was a shame as they really enjoyed the subject area and indeed wanted to pursue it further. What they were then faced with was something of a dilemma, to persist in their desire and risk their health or take a step back. Again here we are returned to the problem of choice but an important lesson was learned nonetheless and perhaps in this instance, it was the presence of the supporting people around the individual, myself included, who brought about a satisfactory conclusion. I suppose what I am saying, if I am saying anything at all is that I think there should still be choice at University and what my role is in supporting learning, is to help students realise when they are faced with a choice and what this might mean, consider the choice, make a choice, if necessary come to terms with it and ultimately achieve something they look back on as an experience, even if, to paraphrase Alan Bennet again, they are not "happy", but not unhappy about it.

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