Government pledges to tackle no platforming at universities

The government will tomorrow call on higher education institutions to help stamp out all threats to free speech on campuses, amid the rise of "safe spaces" and "no platform" policies.

Universities minister Sam Gyimah will use a summit to tell sector leaders he expects them to join forces with the government to eradicate the "institutional hostility" to unfashionable views that have emerged in some student societies.

He will warn of a "murky" landscape in which individuals can be exploited by those wishing to stifle free speech and demand that action is taken to protect lawful free speech on campus. Among measures being brought forward are a set of new guidelines that will provide clarity of the rules for both students and universities – the first government intervention of its kind since the free speech duty was introduced in 1986.

Ahead of the meeting Gyimah said: "A society in which people feel they have a legitimate right to stop someone expressing their views on campus simply because they are unfashionable or unpopular is rather chilling.

“There is a risk that overzealous interpretation of a dizzying variety of rules is acting as a brake on legal free speech on campus. That is why I am bringing together leaders from across the higher education sector to clarify the rules and regulations around speakers and events to prevent bureaucrats or wreckers on campus from exploiting gaps for their own ends.”

The Charity Commission, Universities UK and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission will be among the organisations attending tomorrow's summit.

Alistair Jarvis, Universities UK chief executive, said: “As the Joint Committee on Human Rights recently found, there is no systematic problem with free speech in universities, but current advice can be strengthened. We welcome discussions with government and the National Union of Students on how this can be done.”

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CityAM

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