Voting in Cambridge Chancellor Election
The best free speech candidates for the Cambridge Chancellorship
Cambridge alumni can use their vote in the upcoming election for the Chancellorship of Cambridge University to support candidates who stand for the protection of free speech and academic freedom, and thus demonstrate that free speech matters to alumni. We urge all alumni to vote for a strong free speech candidate. Our recommendations are below.
AFFS has written to the candidates requesting information about their position on free speech.
The great majority of the candidates responded.
Based on AFFS’ review and analysis of candidates’ responses, the candidates among the apparent frontrunners for the Chancellorship who AFFS and The Free Speech Union (“FSU”) jointly recommend to those Cambridge alumni who care about free speech are (in alphabetical order):
Lord (John) Browne of Madingley
Dr Mohamed El-Erian
Other candidateswho appear to be strong free speech supporters and who appear to be the most suitable to support are (in alphabetical order):
Dr Ayham Ammora
Professor Wyn Evans
Given that neither of the preferred front-runners is hugely ahead of the other in free speech terms, effective use of transferable votes is likely to be critical. Whichever candidate alumni initially vote for, AFFS and the FSU also recommend that they ensure that their transferable vote goes at some stage to (ideally) both of Lord Browne and Dr El-Erian, or at least to one of them.
Our recommendations are based solely on factors relating to free speech protection. We are politically neutral as regards the candidates. Other factors will, of course, also matter to individual voters. It is not for us to comment or give recommendations regarding wider considerations, and we do not do so.
Some candidates have not engaged with our detailed questions, while some have shown signs of not understanding aspects of the problem, or being less supportive of the effective protection of free speech at our universities, as explained in our detailed statement. We therefore recommend that alumni who care about free speech do not vote for these candidates.
Our detailed statement on this can be found here. This contains detailed information on each candidate’s response and an evaluation of them from a purely free speech perspective.
What you can do:
- vote for a strong free speech candidate.
- share this with your friends who are Cambridge graduates and care about free speech.
