The People’s Republic of Worcester College

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Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, rightly points out that “nine times out of ten, these injustices go unchallenged”. 

Daniel Dieppe, The Critic, 24th June 2022.

“Woke” Open University anti-racist training course titled “Union Black” tells academics that “white superiority” is “embedded in the English language”

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Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, told MailOnline: “The practice of publicly shaming your intellectual opponents and calling for them to lose their livelihoods is absolutely abhorrent and has no place in universities. Academics should be free to dissent from prevailing campus orthodoxies without fear of punishment. For Santander and the Open University to be promoting cancel culture is deeply irresponsible. Academics should be encouraged to tolerate people whose views they disagree with, not to demand their defenestration.”

Jack Wright, MailOnline, 16th June 2022.

Toby Young: Don’t be fooled. The Online Safety Bill poses a grave threat to our tradition of free speech.

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In an article published last week, Chris Philp says the House of Commons committee that is scrutinising the Online Safety Bill has heard evidence from a “wide range of people… welcoming this pioneering internet safety law”. Had the committee invited the Free Speech Union to give evidence – or, indeed, Index on Censorship, Big Brother Watch, or any other pro-free speech organisations – the response would have been less enthusiastic.

Toby Young, Conservative Home, 15th June 2022.

University forced to change policy on “hate incidents”

Ewan Somerville, The Telegraph, 12th June 2022.

Cancel culture is beneficial “for social and racial justice”

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The Free Speech Uno has criticised the Union Black course, with the organisation’s chief legal counsel Bryn Harris commenting: “I am disappointed, though sadly not surprised, to learn that UK academics are being trained in the virtues of cancel culture. It seems instead that these materials were agitprop training materials, and that this is another sad example of UK universities’ inability to be serious about academic freedom and freedom of speech.”

Craig Simpson, The Telegraph, 11th June 2022.

Social media comments should not cost us our jobs, say Oxford University dons

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Karolien Celie, legal officer at the Free Speech Union, said it is backing the question tabled by the academics – adding: “We believe that any policy that can be used to suppress legitimate academic expression, particularly on matters of public concern, has no place in the university.”

India McTaggart, The Telegraph, 10th June 2022.

Professors contest Oxford harassment rules in free speech row

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A group of academics at the University of Oxford is attempting to get the institution’s social media guidelines and harassment policies changed because they fear the documents are “frustrating” academic freedom. Michael Biggs, professor of sociology, and Roger Teichmann, tutor and fellow in philosophy, proposed the move in a question tabled to the university’s sovereign body, Congregation. It has also been signed by seven other colleagues, including Jeff McMahan, White’s professor of moral philosophy and Nigel Biggar, professor of pastoral theology.

Tom Williams, Times Higher Education, 10th June 2022.

Free Speech Union legal pressure forces Essex harassment changes

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A UK university has revised its policy on harassment under legal pressure from the Free Speech Union, spotlighting the organisation’s influence and the prospect of it mounting bigger legal actions against institutions if England’s free speech bill becomes law.

John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 7th June 2022.

Cambridge don claims woke critics have labelled him a “white supremacist” for teaching classics – as he warns of “threats” to his academic discipline

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Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, yesterday warned that the “intolerant atmosphere on Britain’s campuses is reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China”. He added: “The union gets about a dozen requests for help a week from university students or academics who’ve got into trouble for exercising their lawful right to free speech. A small minority of political activists have succeeded in shutting down any dissent from woke orthodoxy.”

Alice Wright, The Daily Mail, 29th May 2022.

Why I fear this censors’ charter

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It is hard to overstate just how sinister the Online Safety Bill is. The gravest threat to freedom of speech since section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which criminalised “insulting words and behaviour”? That scarcely does it justice. Let’s settle on the most serious threat since the proposal to force state regulation on the press in the aftermath of Levison.

Toby Young, The Critic, June 2022.