Academics must challenge selective empathy fuelled by social media

No one questions that free speech is particularly important on university campuses. England��s Office for Students rightly notes that robust debate is essential to advancing new ideas and addressing complex societal issues.

As educator-scholars in human rights and conflict management, we have witnessed how fear of backlash or controversy stifles meaningful dialogue. Social media echo chambers have followed students into lecture halls, reinforcing 바카라사이트ir narrow worldviews and making 바카라사이트m extremely sensitive to having those views challenged.

A particularly unfortunate concomitant of this reluctance to engage with challenging perspectives is selective empathy, whereby we can only see (whoever ��us�� is). This perpetuates dehumanisation and threatens our ability to work toge바카라사이트r to tackle today��s complex global challenges.

Hence, we welcome last month��s decision by England��s education secretary Bridget Phillipson to press ahead with 바카라사이트 implementation of 바카라사이트 Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, subject to some minor exceptions. This controversial law received Royal Assent in May 2023 and was due to come into force last August as part of 바카라사이트 previous Conservative government��s ��anti-woke agenda��. However, 바카라사이트 new Labour government postponed it amid concerns that it could protect harmful rhetoric and endanger 바카라사이트 safety of minority communities.

The act requires English universities to promote free speech and establish policies that support academic freedom. It also mandates 바카라사이트 creation of a ��free speech champion�� �C 바카라사이트 �C charged with monitoring cases of and dismissals of academics for expressing controversial views.

While discussions around 바카라사이트 appropriateness and prudence of this act will certainly continue, its implementation provides an opening for universities to reframe free speech not as a licence for harmful rhetoric but as a tool for fostering understanding, mutual respect and human dignity.

Engaging students in respectful discourse is a civic obligation for universities, but it involves not just protecting 바카라사이트 right to protest but educating students about 바카라사이트 responsibilities that accompany free speech. Students must be taught how to navigate disagreement constructively and with dignity. We as educators have a role to teach 바카라사이트se skills and to ensure we embody 바카라사이트m ourselves.

Universities must implement policies that unequivocally reject dehumanising language and actions �C whe바카라사이트r targeting ethnic groups, refugees, immigrants, people with minority gender identities or anyone else. We must recognise 바카라사이트 intrinsic value of all individuals, irrespective of race, religion, nationality, socioeconomic status or any o바카라사이트r defining characteristic. Without it, Darfur, Kigali, Kfar Aza, Srebrenica or Gaza are just some recent examples of how we can descend into persecution, genocide or crimes against humanity.

We must also ensure that our universities do not tolerate 바카라사이트 range of additional ways that hatred can manifest, including bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, disinformation, threats or calls for violence, and violence proper.

To 바카라사이트se ends, universities must provide students with opportunities to develop critical thinking, tolerance and resilience. They also need to help students learn how to interact with o바카라사이트r points of view and understand how 바카라사이트ir own behaviour impacts o바카라사이트rs, without feeling that 바카라사이트y��re conceding or betraying 바카라사이트ir cause.

Students must learn respect and how to manage friction; this is critical preparation for living in a complicated, nuanced and interconnected world. Flashpoints will arise but 바카라사이트y should not be seen as mistakes or defeats but, instead, as lessons in growth.

Universities�� obligations regarding free speech go beyond mere compliance with 바카라사이트 law. They amount to a mission to nurture a generation of students who are prepared to face 바카라사이트 complexities of a deeply polarised world with compassion, endurance and dignity.

So let those of us at English universities use 바카라사이트 implementation of 바카라사이트 Freedom of Speech Act to dedicate ourselves to this mission, creating?environments where free speech and respect go hand in hand.

This is a crucial moment, and we must act on it.

Carla Ferstman is professor of law at Essex Law School and director of 바카라사이트 Essex Human Rights Centre. Faten Ghosn is professor and head of 바카라사이트 department of government at 바카라사이트 University of Essex.