Protect campus free speech says report

Universities UK has published a report on how universities can promote freedom of speech whilst “protecting the safety and wellbeing of students, staff and the wider community.”

The report firmly acknowledges the importance of freedom within the academic setting, saying that if universities are to advance knowledge in science and the humanities, they must “be places where differing and difficult views can be brought forward, listened to and challenged.”

The working group behind the report was established in January 2010, following the events of Christmas Day 2009 when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested while attempting to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. He had graduated from University College London (UCL) eighteen months previously where he had been president of the student Islamic Society. The report recommends that universities must remain vigilant and aware of the challenges posed by violent extremism. It says that universities are “institutions accustomed to debate and to protest” and that as a result, inter-community tensions can arise on campus. The report emphasises that “universities must continue to ensure that potentially aberrant behaviour is challenged and communicated to the police where appropriate.”

Professor Malcolm Grant, President and Provost of UCL, chaired the working group. He said that there was a need, after the arrest of Abdulmutallab, to provide greater guidance to universities on the matter of free speech and counter-terrorism.

In response to the report, Heather Jones, Deputy President (Clubs and Societies) of Imperial College Union, highlighted the obligation of societies “to ensure that a range of views and interpretations are expressed here.” She also added “all speakers who speak within the law should have the opportunity to speak if the membership of the society inviting them wishes to hear their views.”

Speakers at Imperial are subject to a vetting process coordinated by the Union. Heather Jones gathers information on both the topic and background of the speaker and passes this to the College Secretary, Dr Rodney Eastwood, who makes the decision as to whether or not the speaker can attend. Although no speakers have been rejected in recent history, in 2008 the College decided to only allow Imperial students to attend a talk by ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed “due to public order concerns.”

To suggest that staff and students at this institution do not have the capacity to logically analyse the views presented to them and therefore need protection from those views is certainly not a stance I hold Heather Jones, Deputy President

Heather Jones emphasised that societies whose members are likely to be affected by the subject of the talk are consulted, and rejected the notion that Imperial students needed to be shielded from controversial speakers: “To suggest that staff and students at this institution do not have the capacity to logically analyse the views presented to them and therefore need protection from those views is certainly not a stance I hold.”

Last term, Imperial’s Islamic Society (ISoc) was the subject of some controversy over their choice of speakers for their ‘Justice Week’, a series of events described as an opportunity to “educate ourselves about some of the injustices found in the world and show what we as individuals can do about them.” Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post slammed the week as anti-Western and printed allegations that it was “only to do with injustice and hate”.

Perhaps the most controversial speaker was Asim Qureshi of Cageprisoners (a human rights organisation that campaigns on behalf of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay). He has been recorded as saying, at a rally outside the US Embassy in 2006, “It is incumbent upon all of us to support the jihad of our brothers and sisters in these countries when they are facing the oppression of the west”. The Quilliam Foundation (a counter-extremism think tank based in London) accused him of condoning acts of violence and said that his presence on campus was “beyond a Freedom of Speech issue”.

The President of the Islamic Society at Imperial commented “we encourage all to attend our events and respectfully challenge our speakers if they disagree with our views rather than attempting to eliminate one side of the debate by censoring speakers.”

A spokesperson for Imperial also commented at the time “the college has concluded that the events taking place during Justice Week meet the requirements under its Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech.”

So what are the boundaries of freedom of speech? The Universities UK report concludes, “There are no simple answers or absolute rules.” Heather Jones describes such an approach as “very helpful in that it gives few explicit directives, and understands the complexities of the issues faced by Unions and Universities.”