A win for free speech? William Hague, recommended free speech candidate, wins Oxford Chancellorship election
(29.11.24) Oxford alumni have voted to elect William (Lord) Hague to the Chancellorship of Oxford University.
Lord Hague was jointly recommended by AFFS and the Free Speech Union as being the “leading” candidate for those who care about the protection of free speech. See our recommendation here and Campaign News of 24.10.24.
AFFS wrote in late September to the then-known candidates requesting information about their position on free speech. AFFS and the FSU included AFFS’ questions a, and its review of the answers received, with our recommendation.
AFFS are not going to claim that free speech was definitely a decisive issue, but we are confident that a lot of alumni care about free speech and that it was a factor in the result. It is interesting that, broadly, those who appeared to be less favourable to free speech arguably performed less well in the final rounds of voting.
See detailed information about this campaign here: https://affs.uk/voting-oxford-chancellor-election
How universities teach students to shame: Alexander Rogers’s death is a tragic example
(15.11.24) The below is an extract from a longer article by Kathleen Stock published in Unherd See full article here This is the sort of thing we are fighting against. Although this poor young man’s case was itself not an obvious direct free speech issue, probably more one of nasty and self-righteous people (a toxic combination) being empowered by the internet.
Organising and joining in a campaign of ostracism is clear bullying. Universities have rules against this. Why aren’t they enforcing them, and training people that they will be in big trouble if they don’t comply? There is a deep integrity issue here and universities are regularly failing it.
AFFS are on universities’ case about free speech failures, and allowing bullying of this sort will be a focus. Things will get better,
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How universities teach students to shame: Alexander Rogers’s death is a tragic example
Oxford colleges are suffocating places, stuffed to the gunnels with competitive and perfectionistic types, precocious in some ways and very immature in others. Everybody knows everybody else, adolescent hysteria and gossip can travel fast, and an atmosphere dominated by a few loud personalities can feel extremely claustrophobic. In this respect, smaller colleges are probably the worst.
The 20-year-old Oxford student Alexander Rogers killed himself within a week of being shamed by university friends. According to the coroner, he had become the subject of rumours after a post-pub tryst. While no formal allegation was registered, the woman involved told mutuals afterwards that it had left her feeling “uncomfortable”. An ex-boyfriend of hers was then involved in a physical confrontation with Rogers, while others told him he had “messed up” and they would be distancing themselves accordingly. Shortly afterwards, the third-year material sciences student wrote a goodbye note describing an “unintentional but unforgiveable” act.
The coroner in this case (at least) cited an independent review commissioned by Corpus Christi — the college attended by Rogers — describing a “normalised” culture in which “students could rush to judgment without knowledge of all the facts, could shun those accused, and a ‘pile-on’ might occur where a group would form a negative view about another individual”. According to the report, “this culture was not limited to Oxford University — it is an issue for the higher education sector as a whole.”
This week, the papers have shared first-hand accounts from Oxbridge students, bearing witness to painful struggle sessions and acts of shunning for those suspected of harbouring morally injurious attitudes. And this fits with what others have told me.
It’s tempting to rail against the fanaticism of aspiring young witchfinders, and the cowardice of those who fall in silently behind them, especially when the consequences are as grave as in Alexander Rogers’ case. It seems clear that the whispering and pointing now rife among students would not be so popular had influential adults not sanctioned it. In many ways, here too young people are just doing what they think they are supposed to, by diligently copying other people.
Free speech issues and related AFFS activity
Oxford University Student Union v Oxford Union
(02.06.23) You will probably have read about the Oxford Union/Students’ Union (OUSU) controversy, in which the OUSU announced that it was going to exclude the Oxford Union from the University’s Freshers’ Fair next year because it would be having Prof. Kathleen Stock as a speaker.
Following an uproar and pressure from various organisations (see our letter to OUSU here) – and intervention from Oxford University itself – the OUSU retracted. Oxford’s performance was, after a bit of a slow start, an example of how this should be handled, and embarrasses Cambridge and others by comparison.
Some good news for a change: there are signs of green shoots for us free speech lovers!
Links to the key documents will be shown below.
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