University faces legal challenge for poor record on free speech
A RIGHTS group is bringing a legal challenge against a university which has “no-platformed” two gender-critical academics.
The Free Speech Union (FSU), founded by journalist Toby Young, has sent a pre-action letter to Essex University which claims that its policies are in breach of the law. The FSU believes that it could be a test case for universities that prioritise the “emotional safety of supposedly vulnerable groups” over their duty to uphold free speech.
Last year, Essex University commissioned an independent review which found that it had failed to uphold free speech in its treatment of two female professors in Dec 2019 and Jan 2020.
Prof Jo Phoenix, chairman in criminology at the Open University, had been invited to deliver a lecture on “trans rights, imprisonment and the criminal justice system” but it was cancelled at the last minute because of “security concerns”.
Activists claimed that Prof Phoenix, who had previously spoken about the challenges of housing transgender females in women’s prisons, was likely to promote “hate speech” and protesters threatened to barricade the room.
Meanwhile, Prof Rosa Freedman, an expert in international human rights law at Reading University had been told she would be invited to speak about anti-semitism. But after concerns were raised about her gender-critical views, the invitation was not sent.
When the review was published, the university’s vice-chancellor acknowledged that “serious mistakes” had been made and he apologised to the two professors. But now Essex University has been accused of failing to act on the recommendations of the review, and also of misunderstanding equality law.
The FSU’S pre-action letter explains that the university’s “zero tolerance” harassment policy defines a “hate incident” as one which is “perceived” by the victim to be motivated by hostility or prejudice.
“The university wrongly believes any speech which trans rights activists perceive as harassment is ipso facto harassment and therefore unlawful,” Mr Young explained.
“In fact, for the speech in question to be unlawful it needs to actually be harassment, not just perceived as such. In the absence of it meeting that test, it is not unlawful and prohibiting it – by noplatforming feminist professors, for instance – is a breach of its duty to uphold lawful free speech.”
Established in 1963, Essex University quickly gained a reputation as a hotbed of radicalism and was at the forefront of student protests in the 1960s.
Prof Phoenix said she welcomed the FSU’S legal action, and said that many universities are “struggling” with their obligations around protecting academic freedom for gender-critical scholars.
Prof Freedman said the legal action will serve as a “wake-up call” for universities to ensure they are upholding free speech. “This isn’t just going on at Essex, there are many universities which have misrepresented the law in their policies,” she said.
“Many of these harassment policies are framed in a way that goes beyond what is required in law.”
An Essex University spokesman said that it values “academic freedom, freedom of expression and inclusion”, and added that they have “taken action in all the areas identified” by the review.
They added: “Universities have a responsibility to protect freedom of speech within the law, and to ensure that a diversity of voices and views can be heard safely
on our campuses.”