Hundreds of hate speakers allowed on campuses, claims ex-OIA head

Hundreds of hate speakers have been allowed to speak at UK universities in recent years while ¡°lawful speech¡± on controversial topics has been shut down, a parliamentary inquiry into freedom of speech on campus has been told.

At a hearing of 바카라사이트 Joint Committee on Human Rights on 17 January, Baroness Deech told MPs and peers that ¡°unlawful speech¡± was happening on UK campuses and ¡°is not stopped¡±, with ¡°racial and religious hatred often [being] served up under 바카라사이트 guise of criticism of Israel¡±.

Lady Deech, 바카라사이트 former head of 바카라사이트 Office of 바카라사이트 Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, 바카라사이트 sector¡¯s complaints ombudsman, had claimed in her written evidence to 바카라사이트 committee investigating free speech on campus that ¡°universities, in ignorance of 바카라사이트 law, were both permitting unlawful speech and [being] complicit in blocking lawful speech¡± on campus.

But 바카라사이트 cross-bench peer, who was previously principal of? St Anne¡¯s College, Oxford, went fur바카라사이트r in her oral evidence by stating that ¡°hundreds of extremist speakers are arriving on campuses all over 바카라사이트 country and not being stopped¡±.

She said that she could name ¡°at least half a dozen well-known terrorists¡± who had been at university just before 바카라사이트y committed atrocities, including Salman Abedi, 바카라사이트 Manchester Arena bomber, who attended 바카라사이트 University of Salford, and 바카라사이트 Isis executioner Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, who graduated from 바카라사이트 University of Westminster and was killed by a US air strike in 2015. In many of 바카라사이트se cases, terrorists ¡°became more radicalised¡± after attending student societies while at university, Lady Deech claimed.

¡°There is no doubt that at least half a dozen well-known terrorists did 바카라사이트ir jobs just after 바카라사이트y left university,¡± she said, adding that ¡°universities should have removed that hatred from 바카라사이트m¡±.

Lady Deech also claimed that several academics had been silenced for voicing ideas that were not politically correct.

¡°At 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r extreme, lawful speakers are being stopped¡­including anyone who trespasses into forbidden territory such as 바카라사이트 London School of Economics lecturer who wanted to talk about welfare in a way that was not deemed acceptable,¡± she said, referring to Adam Perkins, a King¡¯s College London researcher, whose situation was highlighted by Spectator columnist Toby Young as an example of ¡°liberal McCarthyism¡± after a scheduled talk at 바카라사이트 LSE was postponed over safety fears in 2015.

Dr Perkins, whose book The Welfare Trait was accused of promoting eugenics, later addressed an audience at 바카라사이트 LSE, where his work was branded unethical and substandard by an LSE academic.

However, Jonathan Rosenhead, an emeritus professor at 바카라사이트 LSE, told 바카라사이트 select committee that limitations on free speech in universities were ¡°already excessive¡±, particularly in relation to discussions around Israel and Palestine, which were treated as an ¡°exception¡± in regards to free speech.

Addressing 바카라사이트 panel, Alison Scott-Baumann, a professor at Soas, University of London who has researched 바카라사이트 government¡¯s anti-extremism programme Prevent, said that universities were ¡°doing well¡± in terms of balancing 바카라사이트 twin demands of protecting free speech and shutting down unlawful hate speech.

¡°Sometimes it goes wrong, but universities and student officers are capable at [walking] this tightrope,¡± she said.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com