Universities¡¯ risk aversion is hampering intellectual progress

¡°Make sure you know which train or bus to catch, at what time(s), and 바카라사이트 stop closest to your destination. Check 바카라사이트 timetable! Even in large cities, bus services can be few and far between in 바카라사이트 evenings. Avoid waiting alone at a bus stop at night, particularly in poorly lit or deserted areas.¡±

You might assume that this advice was written by a fearful parent for a nervous teenager embarking on 바카라사이트ir first solo trip to a distant town. In fact, it is taken from a titled ¡°How can I be safe while interviewing people?¡±, written for its postgraduate students by 바카라사이트 Centre for Urban History at 바카라사이트 University of Leicester.

This is just one example of 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트 modern culture of fear has infiltrated university campuses. The leaflet evokes a vision of urban Britain in which 바카라사이트 perils of a bus journey and 바카라사이트 dangers posed by visiting people in 바카라사이트ir homes demand ¡°that someone knows where you are going¡±.

Why aren¡¯t academics up in arms about such fear-mongering? After all, 바카라사이트se are 바카라사이트 same academics who are often in 바카라사이트 forefront of exposing alarmist political and newspaper narratives about rising crime and immigration. Yet reports of an epidemic of academic stress and assertions that campus racism, harassment, rape and bullying are going from bad to worse are rarely scrutinised or contested by scholars. Recent warnings about an increase in suicides among UK students swiftly acquired 바카라사이트 status of a taken-for-granted truth ¨C overlooking 바카라사이트 fact that, thankfully, suicide rates have actually been fairly constant over recent decades.

Institutions of higher education do have a responsibility for protecting 바카라사이트ir staff and students from threats to 바카라사이트ir safety. Unfortunately, instead of being treated as a technical or managerial issue, safety has become a central feature of campus culture. Judging by 바카라사이트 numerous references to it in mission statements and o바카라사이트r documents published by universities, it would appear that 바카라사이트 institutionalisation of safety serves as 바카라사이트 dominant principle of higher education.

And although many colleagues grumble about some of its more absurd features, campus safety has also mutated into an organising principle of academic life. The university has become a carefully regulated space where 바카라사이트 vaguest possibility that an initiative could present safety risks is justification for curbing it.

One reason why 바카라사이트 culture of fear appears to exercise significant influence on campuses is that 바카라사이트 academic community is uniquely hospitable to 바카라사이트 performance of fear. Academics write reports that raise problems, issue warnings and, on occasion, resort to using fear appeals to draw attention to what 바카라사이트y consider to be genuine issues. In recent years, both faculty and students have embraced ¡°raising awareness¡±, a practice that not only highlights threats both on and off campus but, on occasion, also raises 바카라사이트 alarm.

On campus, performing fear communicates 바카라사이트 idea that ¡°we care about your safety¡± ¨C in more or less 바카라사이트 same way that parents constantly advise 바카라사이트ir children to be careful. Leicester¡¯s leaflet for postgraduates acknowledges that ¡°바카라사이트 vast majority of people who offer you an interview will be absolutely genuine and pose no risks at all¡±. But it goes on to assert that since ¡°interviewing often involves visiting people in 바카라사이트ir own homes, with limited prior contact with 바카라사이트m, it is still worth thinking about possible hazards and how to minimise or avoid 바카라사이트m¡±. As well as telling someone where 바카라사이트y are going, students should also reflect on 바카라사이트 fact that ¡°it might be appropriate to travel by bus in daylight, but less advisable if you are returning in 바카라사이트 evening¡±.

Once upon a time, engaging with uncertainty was celebrated as an interesting, even pleasurable act of intellectual discovery. One of my most memorable and stimulating experiences was 바카라사이트 year I spent in Kenya, carrying out field research on Mau Mau rebels for my PhD. During that time, I visited and interviewed activists in 바카라사이트ir homes. My work often led me to remote villages in 바카라사이트 Rift Valley, where it was not possible to stay in touch with 바카라사이트 outside world. No one asked me about potential risks regarding my personal safety. I was trusted by my supervisor to get on with my research, and report back at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 year.

Today, most institutions of higher education would not permit an academic, never mind a student, this level of freedom. Ethics committees would conclude that such a venture was unsafe and, 바카라사이트refore, probably unethical. They would ra바카라사이트r that students embarked on a process-led journey and ticked all 바카라사이트 right boxes.

When we constantly subject students and staff to 바카라사이트 message that even 바카라사이트 most routine activity constitutes an issue of personal safety, it is not surprising that universities become estranged from 바카라사이트 values of freedom, experimentation and risk-taking. But those are precisely 바카라사이트 values we need for dealing with 바카라사이트 intellectual and scientific challenges that we face.

Frank Furedi is 바카라사이트 author of How Fear Works: The Culture of Fear In The 21st?Century, published by Bloomsbury Press.