‘Our goal was to

Two open letters emerged in the aftermath of the Langton’s decision to cancel the Milo Yiannopoulos talk – one from pupils who wanted it to go ahead and one from Canterbury academics who objected to it.

Organised by Langton sixthformer Drishti Rai, the letter was signed by more than 220 pupils and stated they welcomed the chance to hear and challenge his views.

“Our goal is not to support Milo, but to pursue the truth and interrogate rhetoric,” they said.

“If we do not, as a society, give the unpopular opinions a chance to be expressed, we are no better than the authoritarians that our liberal democratic society despises.

“We are capable of analysing an argument and we do not need to be protected from so-called indoctrination.

“The majority of us have been exposed to Milo’s content before, and are well aware of the incendiary nature of his work.”

The pupils reveal that as part of their broader education they have been exposed to speakers with ranging views from Ukip politicians to Stalinists.

Their letter added: “At a time when undergraduates from the UK and the US have consistently protested and banned Milo, we sought to host an event where his arguments could be laid out in the open, to stand or fall on their own merits, and to be challenged with reason and civil debate, rather than hysterics and censorship.”

Fifty lecturers and academic staff signed an open letter opposing Mr Yiannopoulos’s speech. They included Dr Declan Kavanagh, director of the Centre for Gender, Sexuality and Writing at the University of Kent, and Eileen Taylor, the social media officer for the Kent Palestinian Solidarity Group.