Universities and colleges will be fined for suffocating free speech on campuses, ministers have warned.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will this week unveil a ‘free speech champion’ who will have the power to defend students and academics.
Institutions which try to cancel people due to their views will be penalised as part of the government’s ‘war on woke’.
Ministers have also told heritage groups ‘public funds must never be used for political purposes’ as they try to defend the attempted rewriting of Britain’s history.
It comes after a December report claimed more than a third of universities are imposing ‘severe’ restrictions on freedom of speech.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will this week unveil a ‘free speech champion’ who will have the power to defend students and academics
The situation is so bad in 48 universities – 35 per cent – it warranted legislation to stop campus censorship, a study said in December
Mr Williamson will on Tuesday reveal the warning to universities and colleges in a bid to bolster current free speech legal protections, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
It means student unions and higher-education facilities will have to promote free speech on campuses.
The ‘free speech champion’ will be a part of the Office for Students regulator, the newspaper says.
They will be able to promote free speech and academic freedom as well as fine institutions and reinstate staff sacked for their views.
A source told the Telegraph: ‘Free speech underpins our democratic society and our universities have a long and proud history of being places where students and academics can express themselves freely, challenge views and cultivate an open, inquiring mind.
‘Unacceptable silencing and censoring on campuses is having a chilling effect and that is why we must strengthen free speech in higher education, by bolstering the existing legal duties and ensuring strong, robust action is taken if these are breached.’
Meanwhile Culture secretary Oliver Dowden is set to meet with to top 25 heritage bodies in the country next week to address their recent stances.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden is set to meet with to top 25 heritage bodies in the country next week to address their recent stances
Those at the meeting include the National Trust, Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, the National History Museum, the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum.
He is expected to tell them ‘to defend our culture and history from the noisy minority of activists constantly trying to do Britain down’.
Another move by the government in the culture war includes asking the future head of Ofcom to enforce ‘due impartiality’ on broadcasters.
The BBC and Channel 4 have been accused by MPs of trying to ‘appeal to a narrow band of north London metropolitan virtue signalling politically correct lefties’.
It comes after a December report claimed more than a third of universities are imposing ‘severe’ restrictions on freedom of speech.
The situation was so bad in 48 universities – 35 per cent – that it warranted legislation to stop campus censorship, the study said.
More than a third of British universities were imposing ‘severe’ restrictions on freedom of speech including Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews, a December report by think-tank Civitas claimed. Pictured: File photo of King’s College Cambridge
Another 70 institutions (51 per cent) have seen some failures which should be examined by watchdog the Office for Students.
Only 19, representing 14 per cent, did not warrant external attention, said the report by think-tank Civitas.
Before the pandemic hit, Mr Williamson said protecting free speech on university campuses – and stamping out ‘no-platforming’ was one of his priorities.
Some of the universities named in the report – Academic Freedom in Our Universities: the Best and the Worst – were named in the graphic on this page.
The study found 68 per cent of institutions have had a free speech controversy since 2017, with allegations of transphobia being a major problem.
Fifty-five per cent of universities have experienced a ‘cancel culture’ episode, in which open letters or petitions pushed for the restriction on the controversial views of staff, students or visiting speakers.
And although 72 per cent have now implemented free speech policies, Civitas says they actually limit the protections for speakers and groups.
It said the situation is urgent enough to require government intervention, unless universities can agree to a robust joint commitment to protect all free speech.