Louise Richardson: free-speech hero
Over 2,640 students’ union officers, LGBTQ+ activists, academics and students have signed a letter demanding an apology from Professor Louise Richardson, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. What did Richardson do to […]
An invitation to join the Heterodox Academy
Jeremy Willinger invites AFAF members and others to join the Heterodox Academy: There can be no more vital issue for academics than academic freedom. The university system was founded on […]
What is the point of a university?
Should a university privilege knowledge or skills? Are ideas central to its mission or should university education focus on employability? Should universities be free and open to discuss everything or […]
In defence of unwise speech
Academics must be defiant in their defence of free speech. I want to defend irresponsible speech, unwise speech, offensive speech, threatening speech and vituperative speech. ‘Reclaiming Our University’, a manifesto […]
Free Speech University Rankings 2017
The 2017 Free Speech University Rankings (FSUR) – sponsored by AFAF – is out. spiked’s groundbreaking analysis of campus censorship in the UK has published its third annual report, and […]
Academic Freedom Motion for UCU Congress 2017
Academic Freedom Congress instructs the NEC to bring to Congress in 2018 a statement in defence of Academic Freedom as an addition to UCU Rules Section 2 ‘Aims and Objects’.
THE FREE SPEECH DEBATE
Free speech has become an issue of significant controversy. This debate will assess a number of key questions, including:
Will preventing ‘radicalisation’ mean the death of debate?
The government’s ‘Prevent’ strategy sees the sudden psychological ‘radicalisation’ of vulnerable children and young people as the cause of today’s apparently meaningless acts of terrorism.
‘This house would never limit free speech on student campuses’
Tom Slater, deputy editor of the online current affairs magazine spiked! and co-ordinator of the Free Speech University Rankings (FSUR) and Dennis Hayes, professor of education at the University of Derby […]