Free speech law needs ‘Stock amendment’, ministers told
A “STOCK amendment” must be added to the free speech bill to protect academics from student harassment, ministers have been told.
Professor Kathleen Stock, an expert in analytic philosophy, resigned from Sussex University last month after facing death threats and accusations of “transphobia”, which she denies.
The universities minister has warned that there will be consequences for universities that put free speech at risk, adding that the Government’s new legislation is designed to stop situations like this from happening again.
But Prof James Tooley, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, has said that, as things stand, the Bill would not be able to protect Prof Stock from the “concerted campaign” of intimidation she faced from students and colleagues.
The Bill defines “academic freedom” for university staff as “their freedom within the law and within their field of expertise – (a) to question and test received wisdom, and (b) to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions, without placing themselves at risk of being adversely affected in any of the ways described in subsection”.
Under proposed changes to the law, universities will be given a new legal duty to actively promote free speech on campus, and this will become a new condition of registration with the higher education watchdog, the Office for Students. This would mean that any institutions which fail to uphold free speech could be investigated and fined or sanctioned by the regulator.
But Prof Tooley said the Bill would be “unable to stop” the harassment Prof Stock faced from students. “She wasn’t told that she can’t publish articles, she was still a professor. But there was a concerted, orchestrated and vile campaign from students and staff, which … made her scared to leave her house and do her job and she had to leave”.
His “Stock Amendment” to the Bill would ensure academics can sue an institution or use the complaints scheme if it fails to protect them from targeted campaigns of harassment by staff or students or fails to take positive steps, including disciplinary measures, to mitigate the effects of such campaigns.
Prof Tooley said that two Tory peers were prepared to put forward his amendment when the Bill is debated in the House of Lords.