Sam Gyimah, a Conservative MP for East Surrey, has warned of a "murky" landscape for free speech at universities Policy Exchange

by Isobel Bickersteth

This article is 6 years old

Sam Gyimah MP, the universities minister, will today announce new guidance on university free speech, which will prevent speakers being banned from campuses.

The new guidance aims to “prevent bureaucrats or wreckers on campus from exploiting gaps for their own ends.” Higher education institutions will be urged to work with the government to promote free speech on campus.

This will be the first government intervention on university free speech for 31 years. The last intervention, the Education Act of 1986, imposed a duty of free speech on universities.

Explained Safe spaces, no-platforming, and trigger warnings

Safe spaces, no-platforming and trigger warnings are often grouped together in debates about campus politics, but are all distinct policies. What do they mean?

Safe spaces: Areas which are explicitly reserved to ensure that any members feel confident they will not be exposed to harm, harassment, or discrimination. This can include designating a physical spaces, such as a meetings, as ‘safe’. They aim to limit distress experienced by students, usually those of minority status. Often, safe spaces in Cambridge are limited to certain groups, such as women and non-binary students.

No-platforming: No-platforming refers to an attempt to de-invite a speaker because of their views or positions. If a speaker’s invitation is revoked, this is said to remove their platform to speak. This is usually decided by the organisers or venue owners, which at a university can include a range of stakeholders including the central body, but is more often the decision of students’ unions at most universities. In Cambridge, no-platforming attempts have had mixed success, with several events being held in spite of protests.

Trigger warnings: Often also called content notes, trigger warnings are statements before or at the start of any form of content – such as videos, lectures, or articles – warning that potentially distressing content is included. They are designed to prevent people from unexpectedly seeing things that they may find upsetting or offensive. Some Cambridge lectures are accompanied by trigger warnings if they contain discussion of topics such as extreme sexual violence.

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Gyimah will make the announcement at a free speech summit in London. Guests invited to the seminar include Matt Collins, the Home Office’s director of Prevent, the controversial programme to tackle extremism and radicalisation, and Amatey Doku, the NUS vice-president of higher education and former CUSU president.

Current CUSU President Daisy Eyre told Varsity she believed that Gyimah had a “fundamental misunderstanding of the issue at hand”, criticising “a loud core of members of the establishment [who] seem to have confused vocal opposition to offensive and violent views with attempts to actually shut down free speech.” She added, “students must have the opportunity to protest against certain figures - indeed, such protests are, for me, the essence of free speech.”

Eyre also spoke on where she views the greater threat to freedom of speech at universities: “It is the bureaucracy of the Prevent duty that presents a very real threat to free speech on campus - including in Cambridge, and specifically to the free speech of students and academics who are already marginalised.”

CUSU Education Officer Martha Krish spoke out against Gyimah's guidelines

Gyimah said it was “rather chilling” that people “feel they have a legitimate right to to stop someone expressing their views on on campus simply because they are unfashionable or unpopular.” He viewed the current “dizzying variety of rules” on free speech as acting as a “brake on legal free speech on campus”.

The new university regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), will be responsible for implementing the new rules. It will have the power to fine institutions for not upholding the principles of free speech.

CUSU Women's Officer drew attention to the continuing impact of Prevent

In March, a parliamentary inquiry found that censorship on campus had been exaggerated by the media. However, it did suggest that the OfS should develop guidelines to “ensure university policies proactively secure lawful free speech and are not overly burdensome”.

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The reality of Prevent: lacking in consistency and accountability

Last year, the previous universities minister, Jo Johnson, announced that the OfS would conduct a consultation on university free speech.

In response to today’s announcement, a spokesperson for the University of Cambridge said that the University is “fully committed to freedom of speech and expression,” and is “dedicated to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming, inclusive and diverse community which nurtures a culture of mutual respect and consideration.” It added that its code of practice “ensures the use of University premises is not inappropriately denied to any individual or body of persons on any ground connected with their beliefs or views.”

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