Category: Uncategorised
International Academic Freedom Day: AFAF and SAFAF Online Gathering
Sean Parker* gives a personal snapshot of the AFAF and SAFAF online gathering on International Academic Freedom Day 20 May 2025 “There is no university in the country that will […]
A call for institutional neutrality
A letter to all UK Universities from the London Universities’ Council for Academic Freedom, Alumni for Free Speech, Academics For Academic Freedom, Committee for Academic Freedom, Pharos Foundation, Student Academics […]
The Canceling of the American Mind
From universities to public office, schools to social clubs, the pernicious reach of cancel culture seems to know no bounds. While ‘cancellation’ may once have been reserved for high-profile celebrities, […]
The War on Free Speech in Higher Education
The pausing of the freedom of speech Act has failed all students, argues Student AFAF, in the first post for their new Substack* Why did we set up SAFAF? SAFAF […]
Response to the Consultation on the OfS Regulatory Advice on Free Speech
Members of the AFAF network have a variety of views on the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (HEFOSA). These view range from scepticism about the state regulating freedoms, […]
Happy International Academic Freedom Day!
Today, Monday 20 May, is International Academic Freedom Day (IAFD). The idea for such a day was proposed at the Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF) National Conference in November last year. What […]
A Tents Standoff At Trinity College Dublin
Felice Basbøll reports on Trinity College Dublin’s pro-Palestine encampment and what it means for free speech and the death of institutional neutrality* Last week, the students’ union at Trinity College […]
Academics have internalised the fatwa. It is time to defend free speech, no ifs, no buts.
In a little over a week the attempted murder of Sir Salman Rushdie has vanished from the headlines. At the outset there were condemnations of the attack declaring it a […]
The Shadow University
Richard Harris and Dennis Hayes discuss the threat to freedom of speech in what thay call the ‘shadow university’. In 1998, Alan Charles Kors and Harvey A. Silverglate wrote a […]
The Secretive University
Stephen Baskerville discusses how US universities create secretive devices to silence academic heretics The most effective method for protecting academic freedom is almost certainly publicity. (Tenure has not worked; neither […]