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The Free Speech University Rankings (FSUR) is back. spiked’s groundbreaking analysis of campus censorship in the UK has published its third annual report, and it paints a grim picture. Our survey, ranking 115 UK universities using our traffic-light system, shows that 63.5 per cent of universities now actively censor speech, and 30.5 per cent stifle speech through excessive regulation. This marks a steady rise in censorship over the past three years. Now only six per cent of UK universities are truly free, open places.
The survey covers policies and bans relating to all forms of free expression, from what students are allowed to say to what publications, songs or adverts they are allowed to engage with to what speakers they are allowed to invite to campus and what clothes – or fancy dress – they are allowed to wear. What’s more, we also cover policies and actions that constitute thought reform, such as mandatory conduct classes and policies that require students to say certain things. We maintain that being compelled to express something is as corrosive to free speech as being prohibited from expressing something.
Policies
The types of policies we examine include, but are not limited to:
University
- Free Speech and External Speaker policies
- Bullying and Harassment policies
- Equal Opportunities policies
Students’ union
- No Platform policies
- Safe Space policies
- Student Codes of Conduct
It should be noted that holding one of the above policies does not constitute an instant offence – they are each assessed on the basis of their content.
Actions
The types of actions we examine include, but are not limited to:
- Bans on controversial speakers
- Bans on newspapers
- Expulsion of students on the grounds of their controversial views or statements
We assess actions which have taken place in the past three academic years – the average lifespan of a campus ban.
For anyone who’s been anywhere near a campus recently, this will come as no surprise. Students’ unions no longer just No Platform the odd edgy speaker - they ban ‘tarts and vicars’ parties and ‘offensive hand gestures’. But what’s perhaps most striking in this year’s findings is how fast universities are catching up. Though SUs are still far more censorious than universities, 23.5 per cent of university administrations are now ranked Red, compared with 15 per cent just last year. As spiked has always argued, to assume that campus censorship is purely the work of blue-haired students is to give them too much credit. They clearly operate within institutions – and ultimately, a society – that affirms their outlook.
Though some university leaders have recently taken a stand against the Safe Space excesses of some of their students, they’re simply not practising what they preach. We isolated two concerning trends in this year’s rankings: clampdowns on discussion of religion and clampdowns on debate about transgenderism. At some of Britain’s most prestigious universities – once interested in probing perceived wisdom and in pursuing truth – the oldest and newest orthodoxies in the book are being ringfenced from criticism. ‘Transphobic propaganda’ is banned at eight universities, and 43 per cent hold religion and belief policies that guard against offending faith groups. And more often than not, these stem from university administrations rather than SUs.
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them.
originally posted by: AMPTAH
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them.
Free speech is a fine and noble thing, when the number of people having access "to hearing" your speech is limited.
But, when the whole world is your audience, free speech has the power to undermine every single authority on which society is built.
originally posted by: AMPTAH
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Hundreds of years ago the U.K. fostered a tradition of free speech and other human rights, but now nearly disregards them.
Free speech is a fine and noble thing, when the number of people having access "to hearing" your speech is limited.
But, when the whole world is your audience, free speech has the power to undermine every single authority on which society is built.