Only days before it was due to come into force, the education secretary said she had decided to “stop further commencement of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, in order to consider options, including its repeal”.
Bridget Phillipson also announced major changes to the work of the higher education regulator in England, the Office for Students (OfS), in order to prioritise financial stability in the sector, as many universities struggle in the face of a mounting financial crisis.
The legislation, which faced bitter opposition from the point of its inception, required universities and student unions to take “reasonable steps” to promote free speech, or face sanctions by the regulator including possible fines.
Phillipson said the legislation was not fit for purpose and risked imposing heavy burdens on institutions. “For too long, universities have been a political battlefield and treated with contempt, rather than as a public good, distracting people from the core issues they face.”
She said the government remained “absolutely committed” to freedom of speech and academic freedom, adding: “This legislation could expose students to harm and appalling hate speech on campuses.
“That is why I have quickly ordered this legislation to be stopped so that we can take a view on next steps and protect everyone’s best interests, working closely with a refocussed OfS.”
Phillipson’s decision was welcomed by many in the sector who disputed the previous government’s narrative of a freedom of speech crisis in universities, and its claims that “cancel culture” and “no platforming” were undermining academic freedom. In sharp contrast to Tory claims, a survey of students by the OfS last year found nearly nine in 10 students in England felt free to express their opinions and beliefs.
The education secretary’s announcement coincided with the publication of an independent review of the OfS that concluded the regulator must reduce its strategic objectives to focus on monitoring financial sustainability in the sector, while also ensuring quality, protecting public money and regulating in the interests of students.
The lead reviewer, Sir David Behan, who was formerly the head of the Care Quality Commission, was also confirmed as the new interim chair of the OfS after the departure earlier this month of James Wharton, a former Conservative MP who ran Boris Johnson’s Tory leadership campaign in 2019.
I’m aware that your martial-arts example is just a debating point, but real martial artists are aware of the limitations of “role-playing” training, and over the decades have developed different methods to make things more realistic. There’s always a tension between “train like you fight” and “don’t train in a way that injures your students too much.”
Also, ultimately there are only so many ways one person can physically attack another, and untrained attackers will end up trying the same things as trained ones, only perhaps more chaotically. Sometimes something a trained attacker would regard as too risky might lead to a lucky hit.
Back to your analogy: the left is not required to tie its hands behind its back just because the right doesn’t feel that enough punches are connecting. One feature of the marketplace of ideas is that sometimes, nobody wants to buy what you’re selling. Forced platforming is an oppressive quota system and a sign of intellectual bankruptcy.
I find it interesting are ascribing to me wanting to promote right wing speakers. My aim is to break the bubble that people construct for themselves so that they can better argue against the ideas of the right.
My martial arts analogy was to say that if you are always imagining how your opponent will act, you will always lose when you come to fight a real opponent. I don’t believe the left is equipping our youth with the right skills to win political arguments because they forever strawman the views of people who vote that way.