Bristol University drops ‘offensive’ national anthem from graduation ceremonies

The University of Bristol has dropped the national anthem from its graduation ceremonies.

A student used to lead a rendition after certificates had been handed out to graduates. However, this has not taken place since last year, The Sun reported.

The national anthem is now only played when a representative of the Royal family is present, the university said.

Cabinet ministers condemned the university’s decision, suggesting it had caved in to “woke ideology” and should stop taking taxpayer money.

Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, tweeted: “If Bristol University are too ashamed of their British heritage, presumably they no longer want to be subsidised by [the] British taxpayer?”

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, said: “This is ridiculous. Universities should stand up for our British values and stop giving in to woke ideology.”

Mark Francois, a former armed forces minister, said: “As someone who read history at Bristol University in the 1980s, they now appear to have forgotten their own.

“This clearly unpatriotic decision is sadly indicative of just how ‘woke’ Bristol Uni has now become.”

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, said ‘universities should stand up for our British values and stop giving in to woke ideology’ – Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu/Getty Images

‘May be offensive to some’

Students told the newspaper the anthem was not “relevant” to the younger generation, and that the tradition of singing it seemed “old-fashioned”.

Suki Yuan, 22, a computer science student, added: “Students come here from all sections of society and the university probably thinks that the national anthem may be offensive to some of them.”

‘Contemptuous of the country’s history’

Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “Why are Britain’s most prestigious universities openly contemptuous of the country’s history and heritage?

“It’s particularly mysterious, given how financially dependent they are on taxpayers’ money.

“If Bristol University really hates Britain so passionately, the Government should invite it to take its begging bowl elsewhere.”

The Government pays universities billions of pounds every year for undergraduate study but does not expect to recover the full amount via the student loans system – effectively subsidising tuition.

Bristol received £58.1 million from Research England, which is funded by the Government, in the 2021/22 financial year. In November, the Government announced it would invest a further £225 million to create an AI “supercomputer” at the university.

Bristol received its royal charter from Edward VII in 1909, which allowed it to award degrees and formally established it as a university.

It said in a statement: “The university routinely updates aspects of its graduation ceremonies, which included the 2020 decision that the national anthem would be played when representatives of the Royal family, such as the Lord-Lieutenant, are in attendance.”

The decision first took effect for graduation ceremonies in the spring of 2022, as a result of Covid restrictions.

The university, which counts the former Conservative cabinet ministers Theresa Villiers and Stephen Crabb among its alumni, has frequently been at the front of the culture war.

Last month, it announced plans to remove the emblem of Edward Colston – the slave trader whose statue was toppled into Bristol harbour during the Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020 – from its coat of arms.

Harriet Bradley was dropped as Bristol’s emeritus professor of sociology on Friday after she suggested blowing up a conference organised by the Jewish Labour Movement.

Ms Bradley said the remark was made as a joke and apologised for a “terrible mistake in awful taste”.

The University of Bristol said it was “deeply dismayed by the inflammatory comment on social media from a former employee who has long retired”.

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