“I don’t agree that, when you become students at colleges, you have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.”
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Barack Obama
What we’re doing
Our universities, once the great champions of free speech, academic freedom and diversity of viewpoint, are increasingly becoming their opponents. This is an evolving disaster for academics and students – and for our society as a whole.
To paraphrase Edmund Burke, the only thing necessary for censorship to triumph is for good people to do nothing. We don’t need to let this happen. But the defence of free speech requires the organised, passionate response it deserves, and current alumni have a vital role to play. This is why Alumni For Free Speech (AFFS) has been set up.
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AFFS will:
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be co-ordinators and spokespeople for alumni Â
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organise alumni to act to secure free speech and to tackle specific incidents
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encourage, support and coordinate campaigns established by alumni of particular institutions.
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This is a non-partisan, non-party political campaign: this is the reasonable against the unreasonable, and free speech provides protections for everyone: left, right and centre.
So, if you are a UK graduate, you can now do something.
Latest Updates
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(20.08.26) OfS free speech complaints scheme to launch in SeptemberÂ
The long-delayed enforcement architecture of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 ("HEFSA") is finally materialising, and will come into operation on the 1 September 2026
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(20.08.26) Oxford reported to the OfS in respect of its failures in the Michael Foran case
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AFFS has reported to OfS the apparent serious free speech protection failures at the University of Oxford in respect of its handling of protests at meetings at which Dr Michael Foran was speaking and sent a letter to Oxford setting out our concerns.
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(14.07.26) AFFS successfully pressures 36 universities to change their recruitment requirements to ensure free speechÂ
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Following the findings of our 2025 Report, AFFS has published a follow-up Report into equality, diversity, and inclusion (“EDI”) requirements in recruitment at UK universities University EDI Support Requirements in Recruitment: 2026 Report. This concerns universities which require, within job advertisements, applicants to demonstrate their commitment to EDI or undertake duties to promote and support EDI.
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