Catholic Union Deputy Director, James Somerville-Meikle, comments:
My ears pricked up this week when I heard that the Government was appointing a new free speech Tsar.
While most places under Tsarist rule were not renowned for freedom of speech, creating a special role at the Office for Students to uphold free speech on university campuses sounds like a good idea.
It’s something the Government pledged to do as part of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act which the King signed into law last month.
The news this week that Kathleen Stock, a former philosophy lecturer, had her talk at the Oxford Union disrupted by trans-rights demonstrators underlines the challenges faced by those expressing views which until fairly recently were not considered controversial.
A recent Catholic Union survey found that almost half of responders felt unable to talk openly about their faith with colleagues. The survey highlighted particular problems at universities, and we have shared our findings with the Minister for Higher Education, Robert Halfon MP.
The Government’s pick for the new role of Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom, Professor Arif Ahmed, clearly has his work cut out.
We look forward to working with him to make sure that Catholic students and staff can contribute fully to university life.