Related Post
Bridget Phillipson has been accused of ‘caving in to cancel culture‘ after ditching plans for a new law designed to uphold free speech at universities.
Almost 600 academics have signed a letter to the new Education Secretary criticising the decision to pause implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act.
They include Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, and Kathleen Stock, the gender-critical feminist forced out of the University of Sussex by pro-trans activists.
Labour has claimed the legislation was ‘not fit for purpose’ and argued Jewish students would potentially be left at risk.
But critics have been left outraged by the move, arguing academics and guest speakers who were due to be protected by the legislation have been hung out to dry in the face of increased hostility on campus.
Almost 600 academics have signed a letter to the new Education Secretary criticising the decision to pause implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act.
They include Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, and Kathleen Stock, the gender-critical feminist forced out of the University of Sussex by pro-trans activists.
Edward Skidelsky, the committee director and a philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter, told the Times: ‘The act had broad support and now the kinds of cancel culture that we’ve seen in recent years will be allowed to carry on and academic and students will have no recourse to prevent it.’
In the letter, organised by the Committee for Academic Freedom, academics argued the decision ‘appears to reflect the view, widespread among opponents of the Act, that there is no ”free speech problem” in UK universities, that the very idea of such a problem is a fiction put about to divert attention from bigger issues’.
‘Nothing could be more false. Hundreds of academics and students have been hounded, censured, silenced or even sacked over the last 20 years for the expression of legal opinions’, they argue.
‘And these documented cases are only the tip of the iceberg; the widespread silencing of viewpoints is incalculable. A study published earlier this year by the Academic Freedom Index placed the UK sixty-sixth in the global league table of academic freedom, lower than Peru, Burkina Faso and Georgia.
‘This state of affairs has serious consequences for all of us. The suppression of university research into the effects of puberty blockers facilitated one of the great medical scandals of our age, as the Cass Review makes clear.’
Edward Skidelsky, the committee director and a philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter, told the Times: ‘The act had broad support and now the kinds of cancel culture that we’ve seen in recent years will be allowed to carry on and academic and students will have no recourse to prevent it.’
Ms Phillipson announced in July that she would halt the implementation of the act while the Government considered its future.
A government source said: ‘We make no apology for pausing the Tories’ hate speech charter, which would have allowed anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers free rein on campuses.
‘Universities already have obligations under the law to protect freedom of speech and we will hold institutions to them. Students should be challenged and face new ideas. Under this government that’s what universities will be about.’
