Fifth of academics do not feel free to teach controversial topics, survey shows
The Office for Students (OfS) gave examples of how universities and colleges should respond to scenarios surrounding freedom of speech in its guidance published on Thursday, including around protests, investigating staff and student complaints and ensuring speakers are not stopped from expressing their ideas or opinions.
It comes as the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, passed under the previous Conservative government in 2023, imposes a duty on institutions to secure and promote freedom of speech so long as it is lawful – a duty which comes into force in August.
In its guidance, the OfS said: 'Higher education providers and constituent institutions should have a high tolerance for all kinds of lawful speech.
'There should be a very strong presumption in favour of permitting lawful speech.'
The guidance stated:
– Academic staff should not be constrained or pressured in their teaching to endorse or reject particular value judgements.– Policies that regulate protests and demonstrations should not restrict these activities because they express or support a particular viewpoint so long as it is legal.– Institutions should not encourage students or staff to report others over lawful expression of a particular point of view.– The starting point of investigating any complaint relating to speech should be that lawful speech will not be punished because of a viewpoint that it expresses.– Providers must take steps to secure freedom of speech for visiting speakers. A speaker who has been invited to speak should not be stopped from doing so on the grounds of their ideas or opinions.
The OfS made clear that it 'will not protect Holocaust denial'.
The guidance was published alongside a survey, conducted on behalf of the watchdog by YouGov, which revealed a fifth of academics (21%) feel 'not very free' or 'not at all free' to discuss challenging or controversial topics in their teaching, with almost a quarter (24%) of those citing fear of physical attack.
The percentage of those who do not feel free to teach controversial topics rises to a third for academics from ethnic minority backgrounds while female academics are more likely than their male counterparts to say they do not feel free discussing such topics in their teaching, research, speaking engagements or on social media.
The survey, undertaken by 1,234 respondents between March 15 and April 19 last year, also showed that the most common topic academics feel restricted in discussing is sex and gender, followed by race and racism.
Twenty-eight per cent of participants said their university has become less tolerant of a range of viewpoints during their tenure.
Just under half (46%) think their university would prioritise freedom of speech over not causing offence, while two-thirds (67%) believe their university would prioritise staff and/or students feeling safe over freedom of speech.
Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the OfS, said: 'The core mission of universities and colleges is the pursuit of knowledge. Free speech and academic freedom are fundamental to this purpose.
'Students need to know that they can freely share lawful views and opinions, and be prepared to hear a range of views as part of their studies. This includes things that they may find uncomfortable or shocking.
'By being exposed to a diversity of academic thought, students will develop their analytical and critical thinking skills.'
OfS chairman Professor Edward Peck, told MPs earlier this year that the watchdog's role in defending freedom of speech on campuses is 'absolutely crucial'.
'Universities, colleges and other providers should be places where ideas can be explored, examined, challenged, or disagreement can be facilitated. Where new viewpoints can be discovered,' he said.
'It's crucial – without that I don't think we'd have a university sector which would be the envy of the world as it is now. So that's my starting point.'
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Labour trail 13 points behind Farage's party in the poorest category, on 19 per cent. But in the wealthiest category of households with £70,000 income or more they lead with 31 per cent. This compares to 17 per cent for both the Tories and Reform among wealthier voters. The findings come after Reform has deliberately pivoted to trying to pick up working class voters by promising to end the two child benefit cap, restore winter fuel payments to pensions, give the lowest earners a pay rise with a £250,000 levy on non-doms and nationalise British Steel. Yougov found that Labour defectors are less likely to have been educated to degree level, more likely to be classed as living in working class households and are more likely to have voted to leave the EU. Professor Sir John Curtice linked it to Reform being more popular with older voters. He noted: 'Reform voters are older; lots are retired so have lower incomes. Also they are less likely to be graduates and thus to be in well paid middle class employment.' The analysis found Labour have a third (33 per cent) of all voters aged between 18 and 29 but Reform have more than a third of all voters aged over 50. According to Yougov the top reasons for voters abandoning Labour since the last election is 'broken or not delivered promises' on 29 per cent. Other issues are 'cost of living' 24 per cent, 'too rightwing' 22 per cent, 'made no difference' 21 per cent, and high immigration 20 per cent. The poll found that more than half of 2024 Labour voters who would now back Reform, 52 per cent, live in working-class households. At last summer's general election last July, 35 per cent of Labour supporters were in working-class households. Now four in 10, 41 per cent, of those who would now support another party are working-class. Those who have switched to Reform cite high immigration (62 per cent) and broken promises 44 per cent as their top two reasons while 48 per cent who went to the Greens cite 'too rightwing'. Labour's to Reform UK switchers are half as likely to hold a degree than those sticking with Labour, while around half (49 per cent) voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, with a similar number (52 per cent) classed as C2DEs (working class household). Three in ten Labour to Reform UK switchers (31 per cent) voted Conservative in the 2019 election, compared to 7 per cent of those remaining loyal to Labour. In an interview on Saturday the Labour peer Lord Glasman said recent election results were 'more than a wake-up call, it's an immense statement by working-class voters that they've lost trust in us. That can't be argued with, it's got to be engaged with.' In the wake of welfare row, the Labour peer Lord Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor, also told the BBC's Today programme that his party needed a 'reset'. The polling taken 29 March and 8 June also revealed a surge in support from younger voters (18 to 26) to the Greens with 26 per cent overall backing the party from that age group. Startingly 34 per cent of women aged 18 to 24 now support the Greens in a category which used to be strong for Labour. But the polling has found that criticisms that Labour now targets students and the public sector as its core vote above the traditional working class appears to be justified by the findings.
