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Proposals requiring Cambridge University staff and students to be “respectful” of different views under a free speech policy have been overwhelmingly rejected in a vote by its governing body.
Instead, the policy will emphasize the “tolerance” of differing opinions after an amendment tabled by those concerned about the impact on academic freedom was passed by an overwhelming majority (86.9%).
Cambridge alumni, including Stephen Fry, were among those who had opposed elements of the new policy, which the actor and writer described as “confusing.”
Visitors to the university were also asked to be “respectful” of the opinions and “diverse identities” of others.
It was the subject of a vote in recent weeks among members of the institution’s Regent House, its official governing body, which is largely made up of senior academic and administrative staff.
There are also implications for the “no platforms” issue as a result of support for three amendments, elements of which emphasize that those invited to speak at the university “should not be prevented from speaking” as long as they remain within the law.
The vote was received by Cambridge Chancellor Professor Stephen Toope as “an emphatic reaffirmation of freedom of expression at our university.”
He added: “Freedom of expression is a right that is at the heart of the university. This statement is a strong defense of that right.
“The university will always be a place where anyone can express controversial or unpopular new ideas and opinions, and where those views can be vigorously challenged. The statement also makes clear that it is unacceptable to censor or disinvite speakers whose opinions are legal but may be considered controversial.
“Rigorous debate is central to the pursuit of academic excellence, and Cambridge University will always be a place where freedom of expression is not only protected, but strongly encouraged.”
The new policy reads: “In exercising their right to freedom of expression, the university expects its staff, students and visitors to be tolerant of the divergent views of others, consistent with the fundamental value of freedom of expression of the university. .
“The university also expects its staff, students and visitors to be tolerant of the diverse identities of others, in keeping with the university’s core value of not being discriminated against.”
However, other academics at the university have raised concerns about the changes to the original policy statement, while the Cambridge branch of the Union of Universities and Colleges has said it and the amendments are not “fit for purpose.” .
Priyamvada Gopal, an academic at the university, tweeted: “There is no ‘free speech line’ in Cambridge. There is the university struggling to follow government orders based on false moral panic, there is poor students trying to make it less draconian, and there is the Freeze Peach brigade trying to stop the right to protest. “
The controversy has developed in the context of increasingly tense debates on campuses and elsewhere about the limits of free speech.
Cambridge University students called earlier this year that a Clare College janitor be suspended from his job after he resigned from his city council in protest of a motion in support of people’s rights. transgender.
Opposition to the original free speech policy proposal was spearheaded by several people at the university, including Arif Ahmed, a philosophy professor there.
He told the Times last week: “A lot of people feel like they’re living in an atmosphere where there are witch hunts, kind of an academic version of Salem in the 17th century or the McCarthy era.”
