A proper 2022-style freedom of speech on campus panic plays out
It’s honestly been a while since we’ve had one of these.
Sarah Pochin (Reform UK MP for Runcorn and Helsby), and campaigner Jack Anderton, wrote to the student-led Bangor University Debating and Political Society and offered to “give a Q&A to students”. The society considered the request, and “in line with their values” said no thank you.
Let’s pick off the low-hanging fruit first. Reform UK has not been “banned” from Bangor University, or indeed from the Debating and Political Society. It has simply not been invited. The university itself had absolutely no bearing on this decision – it has no powers to compel a student society to issue an invitation.
The “in line with their values” statement made by the society is the only part of this whole episode that has anything to do with freedom of speech. There are many reasons that you might not invite someone to speak at your society – perhaps you had something else booked for that night, perhaps you don’t run “q&a” events (just debates, perhaps), perhaps you are just not interested.
But this is what the society said:
We stand by this decision as a committee. We have zero tolerance for any form of racism, transphobia, or homophobia displayed by the members of Reform UK. Their approach to the lives of others is antithetical to the values of welcoming and fair debate that our society has upheld for 177 years. We are proud to be the first of the debating unions to take a stand against Reform UK. We strongly implore our fellow societies to join us in keeping hate out of our universities.
It’s lamentably easy to wind up Reform politicians with statements like that – and true to form “senior advisor to Nigel Farage” and associate professor of divinity at the University of Cambridge James Orr pops up to say
In a crowded field, it is the worst breach of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 I have ever come across
Is it a breach though? Is it actually? It is possible that Orr is thinking about something in section 3 (“Duties of students’ unions”), a conclusion I reach because we are dealing with a decision made by a student union society rather than a university.
Upfront, we should note that most of section 3 is not actually in force – as per the commencement (number 3) regulations the only bit that is in force is the part that adds a definition of student unions to the Higher Education and Research Act 2017.
And even if the entirety of section 3 was in force, it is difficult to see what Orr would be getting at.
It would give the SU the objective of securing freedom of speech within the law for students, staff, and visiting speakers – Sarah Pochin does not fit into any of these categories: she is not a visiting speaker because she has not been invited. She offered to speak, and that offer was turned down.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act does not offer any remedies for people who just happen to fancy speaking on campus but can’t get invited. The OfS complaints scheme isn’t operational yet, and if it was it would be open only to staff and visiting speakers. The statutory tort also isn’t operational (and probably never will be), but if it was it would be limited to breaches of sections A1 (which doesn’t apply as the university wasn’t involved) and A5 (which isn’t in force, and if it was it only applies to visiting speakers).
All of which rather assumes that Bangor University is in England, and is regulated by the Office for Students. And I have bad news for Reform on that front too. None of the parts of the Act I have mentioned actually apply in Wales.
Which is probably why Reform is apparently considering the perfectly normal alternate approach of defunding the university in revenge if it ever has the power to. Which would put it in breach of section 18 (institutional autonomy) of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022.
Update: After publication Reform's Zia Yusuf revealed she had written to the vice chancellor of Bangor University to remind him of obligations under section 43 of the 1986 Education (No. 2) Act. While this is at least applicable in Wales, it does deal only with the use of premises for visiting speakers rather than people who would like to have been invited but have not been.
And Welsh Reform leader Dan Thomas has pledged to introduce a law, within the first 100 days of being in power, allowing the government to fine or restrict access to state funding in cases where it felt "free speech" had not been supported.
Update 2: It seems some parts of Reform UK are backing away from the idea of defunding Bangor University.