Our case team has been inundated since the start of the university term, with universities making up 20% of our case work. Higher education institutions continue to impose a gamut of free speech restrictions on staff and students, from lists of proscribed words to compulsory equality and unconscious bias ‘training’. The liturgy of EDI continues to be zealously imposed, like a new Book of Common Prayer, and we’ve got our work cut out helping the dissenters keep their jobs, university places and livelihoods.
In the last year we’ve noticed a big increase in the number of people contacting us who work in the public sector, particularly hospitals, the civil service and schools, usually to complain about their employers’ efforts to ‘woke-ify’ their workplaces. Whether it’s indoctrination masquerading as training, ludicrous pronoun policies or punishment of heretical thought, we’d encourage people to push back however they can – in reasonable, professional terms. We’ve now accumulated a lot of experience in these areas and often secure successful outcomes for our members in the public sector. So if you’re concerned about something, you can contact our case team in complete confidence for some advice, an informal discussion and some pointers. Just email help@freespeechunion.org.
