Writing for the Daily Sceptic, Dr Julius Grower asks us to “imagine being a politician who boasts about plans to remove free speech protections from university academics. Now imagine that you are the Secretary of State for Education. Labour’s Bridget Phillipson doesn’t have to. She is both”
In the wake of her written statement to the House of Commons last week, announcing her intention to “pause” the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, Grower criticises Phillipson’s decision to upend this vital piece of legislation with the “stroke of her pen”.
The Act was due to come into force on 1st August, having received cross-party support during the last Parliament.
Dr Grower continues: “For those of us who lobbied the Conservatives during the last Parliament to increase the legal protection of free speech and academic freedom on campuses, this is undoubtedly a kick in the teeth.”
“What is more, the Government’s message to genuine liberals within the academy could not be clearer. It is that our concerns are not shared in Whitehall and that, notwithstanding our many evidence-based complaints and campaigns, there is nothing wrong with professors and lecturers being scared into silence over socially salient issues or being dismissed from their posts for daring to possess honest but unfashionable views.”
“The fact that the Education Secretary could not even be bothered to come to the dispatch box of the House of Commons to explain or be questioned about her actions – she produced only a brief written statement and then, sometime later, a sloppily-drafted letter to MPs – serves only to underline her personal contempt for the issues.”
The Oxford Law Professor goes on to say, “To make matters worse, the reasons given by the Education Secretary in support of her decisions are so obviously bad ones. For a start, she says she is “concerned that [the Act] will expose higher education providers to costly legal action”. But even a vague awareness of recent developments within the higher education law world would suggest that the opposite will in fact be true. We could well be heading into an age of quite epic “lawfare”.”
Worth reading in full.
At the Free Speech Union, we’ve been taking advice on a range of legal options about the Government’s shocking decision to sabotage the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, and without wishing to tip our hand, it’s safe to say Bridget Phillipson will be hearing from us shortly. The bottom line is we intend to fight this wanton act of vandalism with all we’ve got, but to do so we need to raise as much money as possible.
So, if you’re reading this article as one of our supporters, now is the time to step off the sidelines, join the fight and become a dues-paying FSU member (to do that, click here).
Members and supporters alike can also donate to our Legal Fighting Fund (click here).
