LONDON (AP) – Students at UK universities must prepare to stand up to ideas they find uncomfortable and shocking, and the national regulator for higher education has said it has released new guidelines to manage free speech on campuses around the country.
The Office for Students said Thursday that freedom of speech and academic freedom are important for higher education, so the guidelines are designed to ensure that universities do not suppress legal speech on campuses and classrooms.
Regulators’ free speech director, Arif Ahmed, said in a statement that students should be free to share their opinions and prepare to hear different opinions during their research.
“This includes things that may be uncomfortable or shocking to them,” he said. “Exposing students to diversity in academic thinking, students develop analytical and critical thinking skills.”
This guidance comes as concerns grow that UK universities have gone too far to silence professors and students who have expressed some of those they think are offensive. In particular, gender-critical scholars and pro-Israel groups say they were targeted by university officials and students who oppose their ideas.
In 2021, Kathleen’s equity professor resigned from his position at the University of Sussex after demanding that a group of students identified as queer, trans and non-binary be fired to express their belief that there are two constant genders, male and female. Earlier this year, the Office for Students fined the university £585,000 ($785,000) for failing to maintain freedom of speech.
The guidance released Thursday is designed to implement laws that protect freedom of speech on university campuses previously passed by the government in 2023.
Regulators stressed that illegal speeches, including speeches that violate the anti-terrorism, equality or civil service law, are not protected by the law. The university also has the right to regulate the time, place and method of legal speech to avoid interfering with research, teaching or learning.
Guidance is a good first step, but the university will have a difficult time balancing all the interests on campus, Julian Sladin, partner at Pincent Mason at the law firm, told the Guardian newspaper.
“The difficulty of staying in practical terms is the fact that agencies are exposed to issues that are extremely complex and often polarized on campus and the daily responses to where the scope of legal freedom of speech is constantly being tested,” he was quoted as saying.
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