By Kieran Corcoran|9:56 am, May 9, 2016
Oxford students studying criminal law have been told they can duck of lectures if they find the crimes they cover upsetting.
Aspiring barristers at the prestigious school now have the option of skipping teaching on “potentially distressing” acts if they do not feel up to it.
Lecturers have been told to start providing trigger warnings at the start of potentially upsetting segments so that students can leave.
The regime raises the bizarre prospect that the university could begin producing prosecutors and defense lawyers unable to face certain types of wrongdoing.
Students speaking about the new regime to the Mail on Sunday said academics are now careful to give warning before they discuss rape and sexual assault – even though the crimes are a compulsory area of study.
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It is unclear how the students are expected to fare in the gauntlet of exams which round off an Oxford education if they are allowed to avoid the teaching.
Criminal law is a compulsory element of Oxford’s law course. Official faculty guidance describes the module as “essential” to any legal education, and even refers to the course material as “colorful”.
Homicide and sex offences are a substantial and unavoidable part of the criminal law module, which nobody can graduate without passing.
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The new rules were branded ridiculous by academics at Oxford, including one law professor who told the Mail: “If you’re going to study law, you have to deal with things that are difficult.”
Oxford lawyers routinely go on to hold some of the most senior positions in public life.
Alumni include members of the UK, US, Canadian and Australian supreme courts, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Malcolm Turnbull, the current prime minister of Australia.
An Oxford spokesman told Heat Street: “The University aims to encourage independent and critical thinking and does not, as a rule, seek to protect students from ideas or material they may find uncomfortable.
“However, there may be occasions when an individual lecturer feels it is appropriate to advise students of potentially distressing subject matter.
It denied having a “formal policy” on trigger warnings.