The Telegraph has reported that the University of Oxford is launching a new debate series in a spirit of “examination and exploration”. The debates will take place in the Sheldonian Theatre and are scheduled to begin in November.
Speaking at the annual orientation of staff and students on Tuesday, Oxford’s vice-chancellor, Professor Irene Tracy, said that freedom of speech is “the lifeblood” of the university. She added that the new debate series is one of several initiatives aimed at preventing Oxford from becoming full of “same-thinking tribes”.
According to Professor Tracy, the debates will give students opportunities to “hear from scholars and voices from a range of fields on some of the big questions of our age”. The first of these “big questions” to be tackled in the Sheldonian Theatre is democracy itself. Although the speakers have not yet been announced, it is notable that the debate is scheduled to take place shortly after the U.S. presidential election.
This inaugural debate is sure to be a lively one, and we hope that subsequent debates will continue to confront students with challenging and even unpopular ideas. As Professor Tracy says, “[i]t is clear we need to reaffirm the importance of free and inclusive speech, diversity of thought and vibrant exchange of ideas.”
How students and staff react to potentially controversial subjects or speakers will be an interesting test of the University’s new free speech code, introduced in July and reported on by CAF here. We think that this code is notably weaker than the code introduced by Cambridge earlier in the year, which responds explicitly to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act and the accompanying Office for Students guidance. By contrast, the Oxford code talks ominously of the importance of “respect” and “inclusion” – both common devices for censoring unpopular views.
The new Sheldonian debates are partly organised by a prominent critic of the government’s suspension of HEFOSA. According to Professor Tracy, one of the three academics who “have taken this concept forward and are working with me to develop the series” is Julius Grower. An associate professor of law and a fellow at St Hugh’s College, Dr Grower was one of the first ten signatories of an open letter calling for the Education Secretary to reinstate the Freedom of Speech Act.
Since then, more than 650 UK academics have signed the letter, and organisations like CAF continue to fight for the survival of the Act. In the meantime, we welcome reaffirmations from university leaders of their commitment to free speech. Last month, we reported on some very encouraging remarks about academic freedom by Larry Kramer, the vice-chancellor of LSE.
Speaking on Tuesday, Professor Tracy asserted that Oxford will “uphold the right for everyone to openly express their views and opinions with respect and courtesy, within the limits of the law.” Finally, she added that “[a]s a university, we must nurture and celebrate differences” and encouraged students to “dare to be different, to do things differently”.
We hope that other vice-chancellors will follow the example set by Kramer and Tracy, and fully embrace free speech and academic freedom as “the lifeblood” of all universities.