University donor cuts ties over its ‘wokery’

A MILLIONAIRE university donor has cut off his financial support to higher education institutions and redirected his money to fight for freedom of speech on campuses.

Retired hedge fund manager Mark Hillery, 57, said he would withhold donating his cash to any university until ‘they get their free speech house properly in order’.

Mr Hillery had previously given more than £7 million to his alma mater Durham University, but earlier this year he suspended his support amid concerns over strict Covid regulations on students.

His decision to pull all funding comes amid a rise in ‘campus wokery’, which has seen speakers banned from institutions.

Mr Hillery has instead given

£ 400,000 to the Free Speech Union, which supports academics bullied out of their jobs for voicing their opinion.

‘It’s both depressing and deeply ironic that someone who was a longtime significant supporter of higher education now feels compelled to redirect his financial efforts to protecting free speech within it,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.

‘In the real world, such actions would surely send some alarm bells ringing and prompt some hardheaded, honest questions. But in higher academia, the message currently appears either lost or deemed irrelevant to the cause.’

Last year students at Durham tried to oust Professor Tim Luckhurst after he invited Rod Liddle, an associate editor of The Spectator, to give a speech. They claimed he had promoted a ‘culture of harm and hate’.

Mr Hillery added: ‘Many universities have profound and virtuous sounding mission statements relating to the protection of free speech. But these are currently little more than hollow lip service and bear little resemblance to reality on the ground.

‘ Inaction is no longer an option, for the sake of the sort of society we wish to pass on to our children.’

Durham University said it was ‘totally committed to freedom of expression within the law and to the safety of staff, students and visitors to the university’. A spokesman said: ‘To our knowledge, we are not aware of a single occasion where a speaker has not been invited to speak at the university due to controversial views.’

Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union said: ‘Durham is the front line in the battle to restore free speech at British universities.

‘Scarcely a week goes by without a student or academic reaching out for help.’