A free speech crisis on campus? Apparently, it’s a myth, concocted by right-wing commentators and latched on to by a Tory government desperate to talk about something other than Covid. That, at least, is the unconvincing take being echoed across social media at the moment, as the campus wars erupt once again.
When the government announced this week that it wants to toughen the law around free speech on campus, the National Union of Students dismissed the very premise. ‘There is no evidence of a freedom of expression crisis on campus’, it said. ‘Students’ unions are constantly taking positive steps to help facilitate the thousands of events that take place each year.’
This is the same NUS that maintains a blacklist of organisations (two of which are already illegal) who may not speak at students’ union events, and whom NUS officers are banned from sharing a platform with. Admittedly these are unpleasant groups, but are students not able to decide who can speak at their events and trusted to make up their own minds without anyone being put at ‘risk’ (as the NUS suggests could happen)? With this kind of rhetoric, the NUS has provided cover for the censorious activities of its constituent students’ unions for years.
On the issue of free speech on campus, then, the NUS has about as much credibility as the CCP does on the issue of religious freedom in Xinjiang.
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