Thursday 12 April 2012

Good idea! Let's ban alchohol in case a minority finds it offensive.

From The Evening Standard:

A London university could ban the sale of alcohol from parts of its campus because some students consider it to be "immoral".

Malcolm Gillies, vice chancellor of London Metropolitan University, said he was considering the move because a “high percentage” of his students see alcohol as “negative”.

About 20 per cent of students at London Met are Muslim, and of those the majority are women. Speaking at the Association of University Administrators’ annual conference, Professor Gillies said he was “not a great fan of alcohol on campus” and added that the issue was one of “cultural sensitivity”.

17 comments:

JuliaM said...

When the hell did we stop being a nation of tolerance? I find lots of things immoral, I cope by...well, not doing 'em!

And it's not obligatory to drink alcohol in a pub - coffee and soft drinks are available.

Mark Wadsworth said...

JM: "When the hell did we stop being a nation of tolerance?"

I dunno. Sometime round about The Temperance Movement?

Curmudgeon said...

I'd give it ten years before we get "local option" prohibition in Muslim-majority areas.

Mark Wadsworth said...

C, sure, it's the "new Localism" "responding to needs of local communities" and "celebrating the diversity of culture" etc blah blah "vulnerable" whatever.

Bayard said...

OTOH, all these universities, and especially Tony's new ones, are competing for students nowadays, so perhaps London Metropolitan University thinks it will get more better quality Muslim applicants if it bans alcohol.

Curmudgeon said...

It will get ONLY Muslim applicants.

Bayard said...

Perhaps that is what they want. Perhaps they see Muslims and non-drinking Christians as good students who will work hard and not cause trouble. It's their university, if they want to ban alcohol, they should be free to do so. I dare say there are plenty of pubs in the vicinity that would be glad of the ban as well.

Ian Hills said...

Who started the idea that tolerance was a good thing?

Curmudgeon said...

The word "tolerance" is often misused nowadays. Its correct meaning is putting up with things you don't like, or don't approve of, but it's more often used now to mean that you regard, or should regard, everything as equally valid and acceptable.

Physiocrat said...

Chesterton's prediction in The Flying Inn is coming true.

A K Haart said...

They should read this -

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120411/9496/alcohol-solving-skills-analytical-thinking-creativity-study.htm

Jock Coats said...

They won't be the first. In my induction lecture at the beginning of last semester the Students' Union said to us "we're not here to get you drunk, we're here to represent you". At the end of this semester our last bar on any of the main campuses will close.

For a while there will remain a small one on a satellite campus that is, ironically, owned by the Methodist church!

Several years ago the university management decided the SU couldn't really run commercial facilities, and with a major rebuild going on decided not to replace the SU bar in the new building.

All along they've said this was "the trend" - so the fact that this news from London Met is being treated as a first, or exceptional, is quite amusing. And no, ours has nothing to do with Muslim students per se. There's just the general feeling amongst some that social life can be better delivered "outsourced" to the local pubs and clubs.

Sarton Bander said...

Well I think it might be nice to ban the burka.

Not sure I'd be in a minority on this one though.

PJH said...

"About 20 per cent of students at London Met are Muslim..."

So, about those ~20% of the population that are smokers - when are they going to get a break? Does the university (plan on having) have smoking rooms?

Mark Wadsworth said...

PJH, nope, they've turned all the smoking rooms into Muslim prayer rooms.

neil craig said...

Back to the wild hedonistic days of Victoria.

This one has some personal resonance.

My father, about 1950, was the Student president of glasgow University Union. According to the history it was he who persuaded the worthies of the University Court to allow the Union to open a bar on the floor below the tearoom. Merely as a temporary experiment in the interests of science you understand, to test whether there was enough demand to match that for tea.

The experiment was never concluded, but anecdotally, the maqrket does seem to exist.

Who would have thought that the 60s generation and their successors who now run things would have turned into po-faced puritans who would make the 1950s look like a rave?

Bayard said...

PJH, as you know, the Uni can't offer smoking rooms because it's against the law. It is important that Universities and other organisations should continue to be free to ban drinking, burkas or whatever on their campuses and not be constrained either to have a ban or be prevented from banning them by law.