The University of Lincoln Students’ union has suspended the Conservative society from using their social media after they challenged the SU on free speech.
This comes after the conservative society supposedly shared a tweet outlining that the university had a bad record of freedom of speech.
In a survey on website SPIKED, called ‘free speech university rankings,’ Lincoln’s SU was given a red rating, meaning that it had banned and actively censored ideas on campus.
SPIKED put together the survey by assessing British universities and students’ unions and rank them using a traffic light system- red, amber and green.
Once the society was banned from using their twitter account, they tweeted, “Due to SU orders this Twitter account will no longer be active. We hope to return on 1st May. Sorry for any inconvenience.
They later tweeted, “Due to a disciplinary matter this Twitter account is temporarily suspended until 1st May.”
Previous to this, they tweeted a quote that said “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom -and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech- Ben Franklin”
Lincoln MP Karl McCartney has also said that “this intolerant, illiberal and totalitarian response is akin to something out of the Soviet Union or North Korea rather than a place for learning and debate.”
The SU issued a statement that said: “We can confirm that due to a suspected breach of the code of conduct a request has been made that the Conservative Society temporarily suspend their social media account.”
They also added, “the University of Lincoln Students’ Union is proud to protect the rights of all individuals to express their opinions, ideas, and concerns, and would emphasize that student welfare is at the heart of everything we do.”
