Read on Twitter
I really have read it all now. Today the Times previews a speech that @MichaelBarber9 will give at King's on diversity of perspective. Much of the report covers remarks that SMB will make about diversity in recruitment and monocultures.
But the Times also says that he will comment on external speakers. Specifically, it says he will note that some have said that complaints about free speech are a distraction and a right-wing myth, with very few speakers disinvited.
It reports that SMB will say that vice-chancellors should gather evidence if they wanted this argument to be accepted, and will say:
“I am often told that the vast majority of such possibly controversial speaking engagements do in fact go ahead. I am willing to believe this but would love to see the data . . . one speech blocked would still be a stain on freedom of speech but the context would be clearer.”
Where could he possibly find the data? If only there was some sort of national body, a funder, a regulator maybe, that already captured that data?
Maybe data like this:
Who is the mysterious body collecting this info that SMB craves? Why, it's the @officestudents !
It hasn't released data for 18/19 or 19/20 publicly but for 17/18 the figures were:
I guarantee that of the 53 (out of 60k) events that were rejected, the majority will have nothing to do with ideological difference. But it's the @officestudents that will know. The org he chairs collects the data.
My survey of students' unions in England before Xmas said that of 10k external speaker events in 19/20, 6 were refused. 4 refused to complete paperwork. One was a convicted pyramid scheme boss trying to speak at a student entrepreneur soc. One was Jeremy Corbyn.
There was a free speech problem when it came to external speakers. Just not the one people imagine. https://wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/what-kind-of-free-speech-problem-are-we-trying-to-solve/
The Times report by the way is here https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sir-michael-barber-in-free-speech-plea-to-stop-university-groupthink-w3hd6srhm
