A government source has described the new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, introduced by the Conservatives, as a ‘hate-speech charter’.
Following news that more than 500 academics had written to the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to demand this vital piece of legislation be reinstated, the anonymous government source told The Times: “We make no apology for pausing the Tories’ hate speech charter, which would have allowed antisemites and holocaust deniers free rein on campuses.”
Writing for The Spectator, David Abulafia describes this as “an outrageous distortion of the new laws that aim to guarantee free speech within universities”. He continues:
Over the past year, under the leadership of Arif Ahmed, the Director for Free Speech at the Office for Students (OfS) – a role created by the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act – the Department for Education (DfE) has produced an impressive set of guidelines offering thirty examples of what is expected of universities, and where appropriate of student unions.
Its starting-point is a crystal-clear statement: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
The guidelines consider complaints about interference with events on campus; complaints of being forced into line, for instance a block on academics being promoted unless one has submitted what is regarded as an acceptable 500-word statement on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; and anonymous online denunciations of lecturers who express views with which students disagree.
Now the DfE has, in a move of dubious legitimacy, decided not to put the act into effect.
Bizarrely, the DfE is supported by the Union of Jewish Students and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. It is asserted that the Act would somehow unleash a torrent of antisemitic abuse, even Holocaust denial, on campus.
This is a total misunderstanding of what is permissible. Under the Equality Act of 2010 and other legislation speech conducive to hatred and violence is unlawful. Expressing support for Hamas is unlawful. The expression of Neo-Nazi views is unlawful. And the torrent has already been unleashed in demonstrations that have included calls for the extirpation of the State of Israel.
The Act would not and should not prevent people from arguing publicly in support of the Palestinians, for instance condemning the Jewish settlers on the West Bank in strong terms. But it would also ensure that events supportive of Israel and the trauma it suffered last October can go ahead with security paid for by the relevant university.
It provides mechanisms by which no-cost complaints can be made if these conditions are not fulfilled, and enables sanctions to be imposed on universities or student unions that have failed to comply with the act.
In short, the Act would greatly improve a situation for Jewish students which has turned from difficult to atrocious since 7 October.
As for the DfE, this anti-free speech move is from the same government department that proposes children as young as five should be taught ‘critical thinking’. The cascade of disastrous, unthought-out, decisions emanating from the DfE in the last six weeks has shown all too clearly how the application of crude ideology is a source of danger to all of us.
Worth reading in full.
The Free Speech Union has launched a legal challenge against Bridget Phillipson, threatening her with a judicial review if she doesn’t reverse her decision to suffocate the Freedom of Speech Act, which we think was unlawful.
This is likely to prove expensive, so please, if you can, make a donation to our legal fighting fund.
