UK universities have placed trigger warnings on more than 1,000 texts amid fears their content is “challenging”.
A total of 10 institutions have either removed or made books optional.
The warnings have been placed on books written by authors such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
While the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Agatha Christie has also been affected.
William Shakespeare
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The Underground Railroad had been permanently scrapped by an Essex University reading list because of its “graphic description of violence and abuse of slavery”, according to an investigation by The Times.
But a spokesperson said that the book is still available In the library and remained an option for future reading lists.
While the University of Sussex has permanently withdrawn Miss Julie from an undergraduate literature module after concerns were raised about the book’s suicide references.
Students had questioned the book, complaining about the potential “psychological” and “emotional effects” of it.
Warwick, Exeter and Glasgow Universities, who are part of the prestigious Russell Group have also made certain texts optional.
The investigation found a total of 1,081 examples of trigger warnings across undergraduate courses across the UK.
UK universities have placed trigger warnings on more than 1,000 texts
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