Voting in Oxford Chancellor Election
The best free speech candidates for the Oxford Chancellorship
Oxford alumni can use their vote in the upcoming election for the Chancellorship of Oxford University to support candidates who stand for the protection of free speech, 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 then-known 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 candidate among the apparent frontrunners for the Chancellorship who AFFS and The Free Speech Union (“FSU”) jointly recommend to those who care about free speech is:
- William (Lord) Hague
Other candidates who appear (out of a strong-looking field) to be the most suitable to support are:
- Revd Matthew Firth
- Dominic Grieve (who we have included after receiving a very strong (if delayed) response)
- Professor Simon Kay
If alumni vote for any of these other candidates, AFFS and the FSU also recommend that they ensure that their transferable vote goes to William Hague.
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 give comments or recommendations regarding wider considerations, and we do not do so.
Some candidates have shown signs of not understanding the problem, or being unsupportive of (or hostile to) 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 our questions and each candidate’s responses, and an evaluation of the candidates’ apparent suitability from a purely free speech perspective. You may well find some responses very encouraging, and some depressing.
What you can do:
- vote for a strong free speech candidate.
- share this with your friends who are Oxford graduates and care about free speech.