Universities: free speech

New laws that came into force on 1 August protect the freedom of speech of students, academics and external speakers at universities in England. This has become necessary.

Universities must actively promote academic freedom, ensuring that campuses are places where robust discussion can take place without fear of censorship of students, staff or external speakers expressing lawful opinions.

Constraints

This has become necessary because too many universities, academic union branches and students actively promote constraints on academic freedom.

At the 2025 University and College Union Congress in May, a motion was passed which falsely alleged that the £585,000 fine was imposed on Sussex University “for its trans supportive policies”. The university was fined for failing to uphold freedom of speech and nothing else.

‘There was no mention of free speech or condemnation of threats.’

At that meeting, there was not one single mention of free speech in any of the 78 motions passed. There was no mention, let alone condemnation, of the rape threats and death threats that trans activists had made to a female UCU member, Professor Kathleen Stock at the University of Sussex, for her opinions on the transgender ideology.

Claim

The university called the judgement an “unreasonably absolutist definition of free speech”, and claimed that the ruling would leave institutions “powerless to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech”.

But in fact, the university, and the UCU and NUS branches there, far from seeking “to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech", actually endorsed both the transactivists’ abusive, bullying and harassing speech, and their actions which led to Professor Stock leaving the university in 2021.