University of Essex
UniversityPublic
| University of Essex link () Website | |
|---|---|
| File:University of Essex COA.png | |
| Motto | Thought the harder, heart the keener. |
| Headquarters | Essex,England,UK |
| Type | Public |
| University in Essex, England. | |
The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established in 1963, welcomed students in 1964, and acquired university status by royal charter in 1965. The university has produced many notable alumni in several fields, including two Nobel Prize laureates, a head of state, foreign ministers, MPs, scientists, artists, politicians, authors, and filmmakers.
Criticism
In her article "Diary: Why I Quit" in the London Review of Books,[1] the novelist and the chair of judges for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize Dame Marina Warner compared the University of Essex to "the world of Chinese communist corporatism where enforcers rush to carry out the latest orders from their chiefs in an ecstasy of obedience to ideological principles which they do not seem to have examined, let alone discussed with the people they order to follow them, whom they cashier when they won’t knuckle under."
In "The Strange Death of the Liberal University",[2] Michael Bailey describes the university as a place that promotes "divisive competition, false economies and philistine instrumentality". In 2021, following the Reindorf Review, the university was obliged to apologise to Professor Rosa Freedman and Professor Jo Phoenix after they were disinvited to speak.[3] The Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Forster said: The report makes clear that we have made serious mistakes and we need to do our very best to learn from these and to ensure they are not repeated. The review notes the particular responsibility placed on universities to protect freedom of speech within the law, and to ensure that a diversity of voices and views can be heard on our campuses. On behalf of the university, I have issued an open apology to each of Professor Phoenix and Professor Freedman.[4]
In 2021, the university received criticism regarding the invitation of Richard Kemp by the conservative society on the Colchester campus. Members of the Feminist society, the LGBTQ society and other societies who represent minorities on campus have protested on square 3 the invitation of Kemp as speaker on the day he was present.