Exeter vice-chancellor calls for more tolerance on Brexit views

The vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter has said that universities must become more tolerant of different points of view in the wake of Brexit.

Steve Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter, told HE that universities should ask themselves whether those who support Brexit feel able to express their views on campus.

“It’s a deep point not suitable for a quick answer, but are we part of an elite that is not connected to the society that funds us?” said Smith. “I think in universities there have to be lots of people who genuinely believe, for other reasons not research-based, that we should be outside the European Union. And that worries me, because have we made it difficult for them to say it? I think we all have to look at ourselves a little bit on that one.”