Image: The University of the Witwatersrand [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Soas chief Adam Habib outlines mixed messages on how universities should protect such freedoms
The government has taken a “schizophrenic approach” to the principle of freedom of speech on university campuses, the leader of Soas University of London has said.
Speaking on 23 April at a Westminster Higher Education Forum event on free speech, Adam Habib said universities had consistently received mixed messages from ministers on the topic of protecting free speech in higher education.
It is almost a year since the higher education free speech act came into force, giving England’s regulator, the Office for Students, increased oversight of the issue.
“I don’t believe governments or regulation bodies can protect free speech in universities—I don’t believe that’s the way it happens,” Habib said, adding that the “schizophrenic approach of politicians on the subject” he had witnessed in in recent weeks was problematic.
“I’ve received, as a vice-chancellor, a number of letters from ministers who on the one hand say to me, ‘protect freedom of speech’, and on the other hand send me letters demanding I take action against stop oil protestors, etcetera, etcetera etcetera.”
“There’s been a schizophrenic approach by government and government ministers to the principle of freedom of speech,” he said.
Unlike some in university leadership positions, Habib told the conference that he did not “buy this narrative” that issues relating to free speech on campus had been overblown—instead insisting that there was a big issue, which university leaderships should take responsibility for tackling.
“I think that the university vice chancellors and higher education executives created a political vacuum by not intervening appropriately [in the past],” he said. “And that created the possibility for politicians to intervene as they have.”