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Having written at length about the debates about free speech on campus in Britain (as well as elsewhere) and the history of 'no platforming' in particular, here's a few thoughts about the new announcements regarding a 'Free Speech Champion' and other proposed policies: a thread.
Firstly, the current perception that there is a free speech 'crisis' at British universities, perpetuated by the government, as well as various right commentators, goes back to the late 1960s, with the protests against Enoch Powell and others. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/22/university-free-speech-crisis-censorship-enoch-powell
Concerns about a lack of free speech on campus precede the NUS 'no platform' policy, with the issue raised at several moments before 1974. When Labour was in power in 1970 and 1974, they refused to legislate to curb student union powers on this. https://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2020/05/08/maoists-and-eysenck-at-lse-may-1973-disruptive-protest-and-the-prelude-to-no-platform/
Since 'no platform' was introduced, there's been opposition to it & debates about who it should be applied to. Some right-wing student groups, such as the Federation of Conservative Students, have sought to challenge it by inviting controversial figures. https://newsocialist.org.uk/45-years-history-and-continuing-importance-no-platform/
Other right-wing groups have attempted to put pressure on the issue of free speech on campus from outside. Eg, the Freedom Under Law Group suggested squads of students enforce 'free speech' by physically preventing protestors from disrupting events. https://www.patreon.com/posts/47105000
After protests against several Tory MPs in mid-1980s, Thatcher govt sought to 'protect' freedom of speech under the Education (No. 2) Act 1986. But dispute over whether this covered student unions, not just universities, limited the Act's effectiveness. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/new-legislation-will-not-eliminate-student-no-platforming
One of the sticking points for the right since 1986 is that student unions have argued that the Act does not apply to them, which is why commentators and politicians have argued that new legislation is needed to address this 'loophole'.
In the late 1980s, the Conservative Association at Liverpool University tried to challenge the limits of the 1986 Act, arguing that the university had improperly banned South African diplomats from speaking after police raised public order concerns. https://www.patreon.com/posts/44951578
The eventual High Court ruling found that 1986 Act compelled free speech on campus (and surrounding off-campus concerns did not infringe this), but that universities needed to take on-campus public concerns seriously. Security for events has been sticking point since.
Free speech on campus does not exist in a vacuum. The Joint Committee on Human Rights determined that events on campus needed to take into account numerous pieces of legislation, which conflicted with 1986 Act.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/589/58910.htm#_idTextAnchor063
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/589/58910.htm#_idTextAnchor063
The Joint Committee on Human Rights conducted a parliamentary inquiry into freedom of speech at universities in 2017-2018. Its report stated that it "did not find the wholesale censorship of debate in universities which media coverage has suggested."
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/589/58906.htm#_idTextAnchor019
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/589/58906.htm#_idTextAnchor019
The JCHR made several recommendations, particularly about the new Office for Students taking oversight of freedom of speech issues, but it did not recommend a 'Free Speech Champion' being appointed. That was a recommendation from the Policy Exchange.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/589/58909.htm#_idTextAnchor058
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/589/58909.htm#_idTextAnchor058
Nor did the JCHR proposed amending section 43 of the 1986 Act to include student unions. Again, this was the Policy Exchange reports.
Over the last year, the right-wing discourse around freedom of speech on campus, which the Tories have championed, has often conflated it with academic freedom, which is subject to a different set of measures. https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/the-crisis-over-academic-freedom-from-the-1970s-to-the-2020s/
I'd argue that there has been a shift over the last year towards more right-wing concerns raised about academic freedom, which ties into the moral panic about statues and BLM, and the fact that events have not been happening on campus during Covid-19. https://www.patreon.com/posts/45796079
'Cancel culture' and 'wokeness' are the new target, rather than 'no platforming', 'safe spaces' or 'trigger warnings'. This conveys a vagueness about the supposed threat and allows all kinds of activities to demonised, from students to academics to the National Trust.
As I've argued elsewhere, universities have been on the frontline of this culture war, because, despite all their problems, unis are places where notions of class, race, gender, sexuality and structures of oppression are questioned by students and scholars.
The right have used the liberal notion of free speech to present the university as a 'marketplace of ideas', where all ideas must be heard, but this is used in bad faith by purveyors of hate speech to suggest that their ideas are worth of debate.
https://www.eurozine.com/controversy-on-campus/
https://www.eurozine.com/controversy-on-campus/
The government want to promote free speech but at the same time, it takes aim at historians for writing critical histories of Britain and its empire. The question must be asked, what kind of free speech do they want and for whom?
So there's a thread, which I hope provides some context and discussion. If you're interested in all of this history, please buy my book! https://www.routledge.com/No-Platform-A-History-of-Anti-Fascism-Universities-and-the-Limits-of-Free/Smith/p/book/9781138591684
As it happens, this interview I did with @TomCBallard last week has just been released. You can hear me chat about the history of 'no platform' and related stuff. https://twitter.com/TomCBallard/status/1361058798257860610?s=20
I forgot to mention that while the government seeks these reforms at the national level, there are pushes at individual universities to overhaul free speech guidelines. As @PriyamvadaGopal and @GavanTitley highlight with the recent case at Cambridge University. https://twitter.com/guardianedu/status/1339978113581604864
