Abused for upholding free speech at Oxford
sir – I have the honour of having served as the most recent president of the Oxford Union, the incumbent being my direct successor.
Like the dozens of dons who wrote to you yesterday, I have been shocked and appalled by the criticism and abuse thrown at my society and my successor but, perhaps unlike them, I am sad to say that I am not surprised.
Over my three years at Oxford, I came to realise that to digress from – or even merely challenge – certain viewpoints results in being labelled an outlier or extremist. These labels are endlessly amplified by social media channels.
I am glad that media attention is exposing this absurdity, but the furore over Kathleen Stock – the most extreme case – is just the latest in a train of such displays of outrage, often aimed at 20-year-old students.
Last term I was called a fascist for hosting Peter Thiel and a racist for inviting Dr David Starkey to speak in a debate on theories of history, and I have been consistently and publicly accused of “denying the right of LGBTQ+ to exist” for hosting a debate on same-sex marriage in the Church of England in the week of the General Synod. I was called an anti-semite for hosting George Galloway, before being accused of “conspiring with the state of Israel to prop up an apartheid regime” for hosting the Israeli ambassador to the UK.
These are not the comments of lone voices. There are dozens, often scores, of messages sent to the student committees of societies, or posted anonymously to university Facebook pages. I have been physically threatened and shouted at in the street, and I know that the Union’s current committee has faced the same treatment over Professor Stock’s invitation. It is no surprise, therefore, that students up and down the country are scared to stand up for free speech.
I am incredibly proud that, in its 200th year, the Oxford Union is continuing to provide a space for students to challenge dogma, but it needs all the help it can get. Let us hope that this fight marks a turning point in the existential battle for free expression.
Charlie Mackintosh
Worcester