The new chancellor of the University of Oxford has said cancel culture is “absolutely wrong” and urged Labour to bring back free speech laws. The Telegraph has the story.
Lord Hague, the former Tory leader, said he would end so-called “no-platforming” after concerns that freedom of expression is under threat at the university.
It follows the high-profile case of Alexander Rogers, an Oxford University student who was said to have killed himself after falling victim to “cancel culture”.
An inquest into his death concluded that his suicide was probably influenced by the “isolation he felt” after being ostracised by his fellow students.
The university has come under scrutiny for a string of attempts by students to bar figures with Right-wing and gender- critical views from speaking at the university.
It comes after the Education Secretary revealed she had pulled the plug on new laws to protect academics from being “no-platformed” or forced out over their views.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Hague was asked how he would deal with concerns about a “tendency among students not to accept points of view with which they disagree“.
He said: “Cancellation culture towards speakers that we disagree with is absolutely wrong.
“I would encourage the Government to bring forward into law the Act that was passed under the previous government reinforcing freedom of speech in higher education, or if they think it is deficient, to come up with proposals of their own, to do that in an amended form.
“I think freedom of speech is thriving most of the time in Oxford. I don’t want to suggest there is a crisis over that, but it will be very important to defend it.”
In July, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said she was shelving the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which would protect academics from being “no-platformed“ or forced out over their views.
Under the flagship Tory policy, universities, colleges and student unions would have been required to actively promote free speech on campus.
Those found to have breached academics’ right to free speech would face sanctions by the universities regulator and possible fines.
The changes were proposed after a series of rows over the so-called cancellation of academics and students over their views.
They include Dr Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor, who resigned from Sussex University in 2021 after what she described as a witch-hunt over her position on transgender issues.
When asked about her case on Thursday, Lord Hague condemned the treatment of Dr Stock, vowing to defend her right to speak at Oxford.
“That was an extremely serious business, and that cannot go on like that in the future,” he said.
“So I would absolutely defend her right to speak in Oxford… People like Kathleen Stock will certainly find in me, as a university chancellor, a defender of their right to speak.”
Worth reading in full.
