From the Battle of Ideas 2015  Last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of

the launch of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of

California, Berkeley, through which academics and students successfully

overturned the censorious policies of university management. Against the

backdrop of McCarthyism, the FSM ushered in a new era of student

activism across the US and Europe, with free speech at its heart. So it

is striking that today, student radicals appear to be at the forefront

of calling for restrictions on what they and their fellow students are

allowed to say, read and hear.

In February, the online magazine spiked launched the UK’s

first Free Speech University Rankings. It found that 80 per cent of

universities censored speech, and that the vast majority of this was

carried out by students’ unions. No Platform policies, which originally

banned fascist speakers, are now used to ‘protect’ students from a wide

range of controversial ideas, and not only right-wing ones; even

feminist speakers have been disinvited because some students objected to

their views. At the other end of the spectrum laddish comedian Dapper

Laughs was banned from Cardiff University after campaigners claimed he

promoted ‘rape culture’. And last October, a high-profile debate on

abortion was cancelled at Christ Church, Oxford, after protesters

claimed the discussion would harm the emotional wellbeing of female

students and make them feel ‘unsafe’.

One former student union president has argued that while inviting

speakers is not in itself an endorsement, it could be seen as

‘legitimating their views as something that’s up for discussion’. Should

some issues be seen as beyond discussion, if discussing them is likely

to upset students? Toni Pearce, the current president of the National

Union of Students, has declared: ‘I’m really proud that our movement

takes safe spaces seriously.’ But should safety on campus really extend

to protection from emotional as well as physical harm? Or should

students be expected to cope with controversial ideas. Should campuses

be bastions of open debate, where anything goes, or does creating ‘safe

spaces’ actually allow many vulnerable students more opportunity to

speak their minds? Is this trend exclusive to campus life, or are

student leaders responding to a wider censorious culture? And what is

the future of student politics, now that spirit of the Free Speech

Movement seems a distant memory?

Speakers

Ian Dunt

editor, Politics.co.uk; political editor, Erotic Review

Christina Hoff Sommers

writer and resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute; host, weekly video series, The Factual Feminist

Gia Milinovich

producer, broadcaster, professional dork

Tom Slater

deputy editor, spiked; coordinator, Down With Campus Censorship!

Chair

Ella Whelan

staff writer, spiked; writer, Spectator