Free speech laws protecting academic freedom in higher education come into effect

On Friday 1 August, new laws concerning academic freedom of speech came into force across the UK as part of Keir Starmer’s ‘Plan for Change’.

The laws tackle the “silencing of academics or students who voice legitimate views”, Skills Minister Jacqui Smith said.

To comply with these new regulations, universities must “actively promote academic freedom” and will be “banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence victims of campus misconduct”. They must also ensure that campuses are free from “fear of censorship”.

‘Multi-million-pound fines’ are likely in the future

In March this year, the University of Sussex was fined £585,000 by the Office for Students (OfS) for failing to protect academic freedom and freedom of speech.

The fine was issued after the OfS judged that the university’s Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement did not align with the OfS’ freedom of speech and academic freedom principles.

It concluded that the policy was leading students and staff to censor themselves out of fear of “disciplinary action for expressing lawful views”.

The change will allow students and academics the freedom to express their views ‘even, or especially, where they may be controversial’

The BBC has reported that “multi-million-pound fines” are likely in the future, after Arif Ahmed, OfS Director for Freedom of Speech, suggested that the University of Sussex could have been fined up to £3.7 million.

As this case was the first of its kind, Ahmed said that the OfS “significantly discounted the monetary penalties” for the university.

He proclaimed that the change will allow students and academics the freedom to express their views “even, or especially, where they may be controversial”.

The government has said that the introduction of these “robust new laws” will “restore the integrity of higher education”.

Balancing responsibility between EDI departments and the new freedom of speech and academic freedom laws may present a challenge to universities

Times Higher Education (THE) has found that many UK universities are not prepared for the introduction of these new measures, reporting how free speech campaigners were quick to contact universities they considered “in breach” of the regulations.

Director of the Committee for Academic Freedom, Edward Skidelsky, concurred that universities have not had ample time to prepare for the change, and cited “big EDI [Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion] departments” as promoters of now-illegal “policies and proposals”.

Skidelsky suggested that these departments “will take a while to rein […] in”.

Balancing responsibility between EDI departments and the new freedom of speech and academic freedom laws may present a challenge to universities.

[Warwick University] not only welcomes ‘orthodox views’, but is also committed to ‘providing an environment […] in which […] controversial views’ may be expressed.

The University of Warwick came under fire earlier this year from students and staff for its temporary publication of a draft update to its Trans Inclusion Code of Practice, which included plans to ban trans people from using gendered facilities in accordance with their identity.

This draft plan was later reported by The Boar to have already been approved by the University Executive Board (UEB) upon its publication.

Regarding freedom of speech and academic freedom, the University of Warwick’s Code of Practice says that it not only welcomes “orthodox views”, but is also committed to “providing an environment […] in which conflicting, unpopular, and controversial views” may be expressed.