Thread by @LabWomenDec

@ToniaAntoniazzi on the HE (Freedom of Speech) Bill this evening: “There is mounting evidence that female academics’ ability to discuss their rights in law is... being curtailed in our HE sector". Shame so many @UKLabour MPs denied that evidence.

@RosieDuffield1 spoke powerfully about "the worrying trend to cancel or no-platform mainly women" and asked "Is a set of rules and the threat of penalties the best way to protect freedom of speech?” Spoiler: it's not. So what's to be done?

@joannaccherry nailed it. "University authorities often look the other way or, worse still, participate in the witch-hunts against lifelong feminists who simply want to make sure that women’s voices and women’s concerns are heard in important debates".

Three high points in an otherwise uninspiring debate. Tory MPs waxed lyrical on the principles of free speech but failed to ask why our corporatised universities aren't upholding it. The legislation is there, but profit-seeking, brand-conscious university managers don't use it.

Meanwhile @UKLabour speakers buried their heads firmly in the sand, denied the existence of a problem with freedom of speech (referring to the same flawed figures over and over again from a report which only covered student unions) and engaged in whataboutery.

We don't support the Bill. It frames the problem wrongly, so arrives at a wrong solution. @UKLabour speakers who located the problem in the marketisation of the sector are right in part. Precariously employed academics chasing research funding can't exercise academic freedom.

But it's more than that. "In today’s commercialised university sector, where universities act like large corporations, academic freedom faces multiple threats." womansplaceuk.org/2021/02/22/def…

We think the Bill will have perverse effects. More regulation of universities won't help. We need participative and democratic university governance structures, HE funding that addresses the commercialisation of the sector, and a national conversation on academic freedom.

And, as @joannaccherry so presciently said, "It’s the Equality Act that universities need to look at more than anything else to solve this problem… because the Equality Act has frequently been misconstrued or ignored in universities… and it’s a symptom of a wider malaise."

There's lots to do to address academic freedom and freedom of expression in universities. The Bill, and today's debate, was a missed opportunity.