More students to be ‘hounded and silenced’ on campuses after free speech law abandoned

Students and university staff will continue to be “hounded, censured and silenced” after ministers abandoned plans to protect free speech on campuses, academics have warned.

The Government has been accused of giving into cancel culture after Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, last month suspended legislation that would have enshrined free speech on campuses in law.

She was concerned that the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which was introduced by the Conservatives, would have left students vulnerable to “harm and appalling hate speech” while completing their studies.

More than 500 academics have called on her to rethink the decision in a letter, The Times reported.

They warned that a failure to act could lead to more staff and students being “hounded, censured and silenced” for holding legitimate, legal views some may deem offensive.

Kathleen Stock, a feminist academic whose views on transgender rights have sparked protests on campuses, Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist, and historian Niall Ferguson are among those who have signed the letter.

More than 50 academics at the University of Oxford and 30 at Cambridge are also among the signatories. They include historians David Abulafia, who criticised Britain’s membership of the European Union, and Robert Tombs, who has campaigned against the censorship of historical texts in universities.

The letter stated: “The decision to halt (the act) appears to reflect the view, widespread among opponents, that there is no ‘free speech problem’ in UK universities. Nothing could be more false.

“Hundreds of academics and students have been hounded, censured, silenced or even sacked over the last 20 years for the expression of legal opinions.

“This state of affairs has serious consequences for all of us. The suppression of university research into the effects of puberty blockers facilitated one of the great medical scandals of our age, as the Cass Review makes clear.”

Government claims law risked intimidation of Jewish students

The academics cited a report published earlier this year by the Academic Freedom Index, which ranked the UK 66th in the global league table of academic freedom below Peru, Burkina Faso and Georgia.

They dispute claims that the law would have led to the intimidation of minorities such as Jewish students going unpunished and say their right to be free from harassment and hatred is already enshrined in law.

Edward Skidelsky, the director of the Committee for Academic Freedom and a lecturer in philosophy at Exeter University, said many academics were “very disappointed” by the decision to suspend the act.

“The act had broad support and now the kinds of cancel culture that we’ve seen in recent years will be allowed to carry on and academic and students will have no recourse to prevent it,” he said.

Mr Ferguson added: “There is no good reason for the new Government to revoke this important piece of legislation. Free speech at universities should not be a partisan issue. I find it disturbing that a Labour Government should be against it.”

A government source told The Times: “We make no apology for pausing the Tories’ hate speech charter, which would have allowed anti-Semites and holocaust deniers free rein on campuses.

“Universities already have obligations under the law to protect freedom of speech and we will hold institutions to them.

“Students should be challenged and face new ideas. Under this Government, that’s what universities will be about.”