School laments forced decision to axe visit of controversial ex-pupil

‘Our commitment to free speech remains unshakable’

The teacher who arranged the aborted Milo Yiannopoulos talk at the Boys’ Langton says it fell victim to a “heckler’s veto” after the school was pressured into cancelling it.

Prof James Soderholm described opposition to the rightwing controversialist’s talk as “a kind of inchoate, moral outrage from the wider community and the left-orthodoxy of local universities” with no actual link to the school.

The cancellation follows a complaint to the Department for Education’s (DFE) counterextremism unit and an open letter by 50 employees from the Kent and Canterbury Christ Church universities who demanded the school scrap the event.

School leaders decided on Monday to cancel the talk scheduled for Tuesday amid concerns for the safety of pupils after threats of a protest. The move came despite the fact that 220 senior school pupils had parental consent to hear the 33-year-old former Langton pupil speak.

The same number signed a letter explaining that they had wanted the event to go ahead.

Mr Yiannopoulos is a journalist for the right-wing Breitbart website and an outspoken critic of feminism and Islam.

Prof Soderholm, the Langton’s director of humanities, said the school had been forced to make a “complicated decision”.

“It was based on the Dfe’s cautionary note to us, and it was a decision we knew would damn us either way – which has been the case with people unacquainted with the school,” he said.

“Mostly, it was the result of a kind of inchoate, moral outrage from the wider community and the left-orthodoxy of local universities, people who have no real connection to the school in any way.

“They represent what can be called a ‘heckler’s veto’ of Milo.

“Happily, scores of current parents have written us many extremely supportive notes about our attempt to bring in controversial speakers.

“The students produced a brilliant letter stating their reasons for not being treated like children, added to which they have presented several substantial and informed questions that they would like to have asked Milo.”

Prof Soderholm added that a proposed anti-milo protest threatened the safety of pupils.

He said: “This could have led to harm or frightened younger students.

“Our commitment to free speech remains unshakable. Our commitment to the safety of our students is legal.”

Head teacher Dr Matthew Baxter said: “The staff and students of the school were overwhelmingly in favour.

“While disappointed that both the pastoral care and intellectual preparation we offer to our students has been called into question, we at the Langton remain committed to the principle of free speech and open debate and will resist, where possible, all forms of censorship.”