Every year, the UK government decides, without evidence, that #FreedomOfSpeech
in #Universities is under threat.
It's smoke & mirrors, a parlour trick to distract from real issues like the #CostOfLivingCrisis /1
theguardian.com/education/2022…
By every year, I mean every single year /2
For example 2021
/3
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
And 2020
/4
theguardian.com/education/2020…
And 2019
/5
gov.uk/government/new…
In 2018, an inquiry into freedom of speech in unis was called by @HouseofCommons & @UKHouseofLords for the @HumanRightsCtte @UKParliament Evidence was submitted, hearings were held, & a 71-page report was published publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jt…
/6
“The press accounts of widespread suppression of free speech are clearly out of kilter with reality. ... A large amount of evidence suggests that the narrative that ‘censorious students’ have created a ‘free speech crisis’ in universities has been exaggerated” (2018, p. 19)
/7
"While the Government has been concerned about the perceived decline of freedom of speech in universities, the introduction of the Prevent duty in higher education settings has made exercising freedom of speech rights more problematic" (2018, p. 29) #StudentsNotSuspects
/8
In 2018, after the publication of the report, the then universities minister continued to insist that "the threat to freedom of speech in universities was not 'some right-wing conspiracy theory that had been made up'" researchresearch.com/news/article/?…
/9
That same minister then fabricated a story about free speech under threat. "The rapid rebuttal from the university leaves few documented cases of censorship to justify the concern expressed about the issue by some politicians."
/10
researchresearch.com/news/article/?…
And 2017
ukpol.co.uk/jo-johnson-fre…
/11
And 2016
/12
theguardian.com/education/2016…
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