New Authorities free speech tsar says ‘democracy is at stake’
Cambridge lecturer Professor Arif Ahmed has been appointed because the director for freedom of speech and educational freedom on the Office for Students with the function of selling free speech at universities.
His appointment comes on the heels of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act and protests surrounding Professor Kathleen Stock’s discuss to the Oxford Union over her views on gender id.
Writing in The Times, Professor Ahmed stated: “We settle disputes by discussion, not censorship or violence. Today that idea is fading.
“Universities must defend it. Democracy is at stake.”
He stated with out the “freedom to explore” controversial concepts, “a university is nothing” however insisted free speech “matters beyond the campus”.
“These freedoms are worth fighting for,” he wrote. “There are urgent threats to free speech and academic freedom in our universities. We must use all means necessary to address them.
“New legislation means universities and colleges must promote, and take steps to secure, academic freedom and free speech within the law.
“Free speech for just one side is not free speech at all. Free speech for all sides benefits all sides.”
Professor Ahmed will sit on the board of the Office for Students and oversee investigations into breaches of the brand new Act, together with a complaints system for college students, employees and visiting audio system.
He stated breaches might embrace cancelling a chat because of inner political strain or disciplining a lecturer for provocative tweets with potential sanctions together with fines.
“Free speech and academic freedom are vital to the core purpose of universities and colleges,” he stated. “They are not partisan values. They are also fundamental to our civilisation.”
The Higher Education Act, which turned legislation on May 11, is designed to determine the complaints system, strengthening authorized duties on increased schooling suppliers in England and promote freedom of speech on campuses.
A weblog publish from the Department for Education stated it is going to “strengthen the duties already in place to protect freedom of speech and bring about a change of culture on our campuses”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confused the significance of freedom of speech on campuses, saying: “A free society requires free debate. We should all be encouraged to engage respectfully with the ideas of others.
“University should be an environment where debate is supported, not stifled.
“A tolerant society is one which allows us to understand those we disagree with, and nowhere is that more important than within our great universities.”