Student accused of violating 'safe space' because she raised her hand
A student at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland found herself on the wrong side of the campus bully brigades when she raised her hand at a student government meeting only to be accused of violating a "safe space."
Imogen Wilson, the vice-president for academic affairs at Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA), spoke out against safe space rules becoming “a tool for the hard left to use when they disagree with people”, following the incident last week.
Ms Wilson, 22, was subject to a “safe space complaint” over her supposedly “inappropriate hand gestures” during a student council meeting.
According to the association’s rules, student council meetings should be held in a “safe space environment”, defined as “a space which is welcoming and safe and includes the prohibition of discriminatory language and actions”.
This includes “refraining from hand gestures which denote disagreement”, or “in any other way indicating disagreement with a point or points being made”.
“Disagreements should only be evident through the normal course of debate,” it says.
Ms. Wilson, who supports the notion of "safe spaces," nevertheless believes the concept has been hijacked by the far left:
Ms Wilson said she believed that safe space rules banning gestures of disagreement, which were drawn up under the tenure of previous sabbatical officers, were “a little extreme” and had been used as a “political” tool against her after she spoke out against anti-Semitism.
And what about "hand gestures" and "head shaking" from those on the "right side" of the BDS argument?
She said: “At that meeting we were discussing BDS, the movement to boycott Israel. I made a long and passionate speech against us subscribing to this, on the basis it encourages anti-Semitism on campus. It was only after I made that speech that someone made a safe space complaint. I can’t help but think it was a political move against me.
“Later on in the meeting, someone threatened me with a second complaint because I was shaking my head – but when I was addressing the room about my worries about Jewish students, there were plenty of people shaking their heads and nothing happened.”
Ms. Wilson is learning the hard way about double standards practiced by the anti-Semitic left.