In his inaugural speech as Chancellor of Oxford University, Lord Hague of Richmond (William Hague) has vowed to protect freedom of speech.
At a formal ceremony on Wednesday, the former Conservative leader said: “In an age in which ideas will change so rapidly, freedom of speech and of academic work and research will be of paramount importance. We cannot prepare for the turbulent decades to come by shielding ourselves from inconvenient arguments, wrapping ourselves in comfort blankets of cancellation or suppressing minority views because they conflict with the beguiling certainty of a majority.”
“Oxford is a home of free speech… Our university is a place where we can disagree vigorously while sheltering each other from the abuse and hatred that are so often a substitute for rational opinion.”
Lord Hague, who served as Foreign Secretary between 2010 and 2014, also told the 700-strong audience at the Sheldonian Theatre: “We do not need to agree on everything, indeed we should not. I am pleased to say we don’t need a foreign policy because we are not a country. Nor do we need a view on every daily occurrence because we are not a newspaper.
“The concern of a university is that opinions are reached on the basis of truth, reason and knowledge, which in turn requires thinking and speaking with freedom.”
Lord Hague made his free speech vow less than a week after protesters staged a walkout at a talk by the gender-critical author Helen Joyce at Balliol College. It also came in the wake of the announcement of an inquiry by the Department for Education into cancel culture after the death of Alexander Rogers, a student at Oxford who died after being ostracised by friends.
In the course of his address, Lord Hague “strongly” welcomed “the decision by ministers to revive most of the provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act” (HEFSA). The Act was passed under the previous Conservative government but initially halted by the new Labour Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, prompting a High Court challenge from the FSU.
Our challenge seems to have been one of the reasons why Ms Phillipson was forced to think again. We would, however, remind Lord Hague that it’s still not clear if HEFSA, even in its watered-down form, will be in place before the next academic year.
Last month, the High Court confirmed that the FSU’s legal proceedings would be paused until July 1 in order to see whether Labour intends to implement the Act by September. The government now has time to fulfil its commitments – but the clock is ticking.
As Lord Young, the FSU’s General Secretary, said outside court: “It’s critical that students and academics shouldn’t have to wait another year before these free speech protections are put in place.”
We will be watching closely to ensure they are.
More on the story here. For Lord Hague’s full speech (including the bits in Latin), click here.
