Protecting University Events from Cancellation Mobs: Inside Charlie Bentley-Astor’s Undercover Mission
The college graduate revealed that she had witnessed leaders of the protest fabricating false accusations to halt an event she had arranged.
According to Charlie Bentley-Astor, university students had to resort to sneaking into events and forming secret societies to engage with different ideas.
Speaking to NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” programme, the writer, who graduated from the University of Cambridge, shared details of her time as an undercover operative.
She mentioned how she saw activists maliciously creating charges against a college faculty who was promoting an event she had organized to coerce an apology.
When a controversial speaker was invited to a university, efforts to cancel the event would commence both publicly and in private chat rooms, as per Ms. Bentley-Astor.
She described the process of how the cancellations were orchestrated and how student newspapers would support the protesters rather than the speakers.
She stated that protests would be organized in private online group chats, which she infiltrated with multiple SIM cards to gather information for event organizers.
Protesters would use various tactics to disrupt events, making it difficult for attendees to access the venue.
Ms. Bentley-Astor also highlighted the chilling effects of these tactics on academics and students.
She mentioned the fear of backlash and investigations that professors faced if they attended certain events or spoke out against cancellation attempts.
Addressing ways to mitigate these challenges, she spoke about setting up waiting rooms and invite-only secret societies on campuses.
Chilling Effect
Ms. Bentley-Astor detailed the impact of the hostile environment on academics and students.
She explained how fear of social repercussions led students to avoid certain events or arrive early to evade protesters.
She also mentioned the emergence of secret societies where students could discuss topics freely.
‘Trumped-up Charge’
Ms. Bentley-Astor recounted how activists falsely accused a college faculty of promoting eugenics to cancel an event she had organized.
She highlighted the role of a small group of ringleaders who concocted false accusations, influencing other followers to believe in their cause.
Her experience shed light on the strategies employed by protesters to prevent events from taking place.
The World Won’t End
On the day the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill passed into law, Ms. Bentley-Astor’s film-screening event was canceled.
She expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the new law in combating censorship on campuses.
However, she hoped that universities would take measures to uphold free speech and encourage open dialogue.
She encouraged protesters to engage in constructive discussions rather than shutting down debates.
Ms. Bentley-Astor urged event attendees to remain resilient in the face of opposition and continue engaging in dialogue.
