Free speech is being curbed warns former equalities chief Trevor Phillips

‘Rule of the mob’ is curbing free speech in universities warns former equalities chief Trevor Phillips

  • Mr Phillips said academic institutions needed to prevent erosion of free speech
  • He added that the original NUS ‘No Platform Policy’ was now being used in an ‘authoritarian’ way 
  • Government guidelines say free speech is a legal requirement in universities 

Free speech is being restrained as universities follow the ‘rule of the mob’, the former equalities chief Trevor Phillips has said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph.

Mr Phillips argued that vice-Chancellors in charge of the academic institutions needed to take a stand in order to prevent the erosion of free speech.

The former chair of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, who wrote the original ‘No Platform Policy’ for the National Union of Students, argued that the policy was now being used in an ‘authoritarian’ way.

He added that what was initially implemented to protect people was now being used to restrict the voices of those with whom they disagreed with. 

The former chair of the Equalities and Human Right Commission, Trevor Phillips, argued that university vice-Chancellors needed to take a stand to prevent the erosion of free speech

The policy, which was created in the early 1970s, was a form of boycott to the rise of the National Front and other violent and racist groups and aimed to prevent them from speaking to students on campus or organising speeches.

Mr Phillips told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘People have taken that and stretched it beyond all recognition into something ugly and authoritarian. 

‘People use what was originally a protective proposition to damn others with whom they disagree.’ 

Mr Phillips said responsibility did not lay soley with students but with those who ran the academic establishments.

He added: ‘What you are really talking about is the rule of the mob – that has come to campuses. I find all of those things incredibly threatening.’ 

According to new government guidelines, freedom of speech is a legal requirement in academic institutions and student unions.

 Under the new government guidelines published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), universities must try and prevent the threat of violent protest before cancelling an event. (Stock image)

 Under the new government guidelines published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), universities must try and prevent the threat of violent protest before cancelling an event. (Stock image)

In a 53-page document published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), universities must try and prevent the threat of violent protest, through measures such as increased security and ticketing, before deciding to cancel an event. 

In 2015, a Change.org petition was launched to prevent feminist writer Germaine Greer from giving a lecture to students at Cardiff University due to her views on transgender people.

The petition, which gathered more than 3,000 signatures, nearly stopped the academic from giving her lecture.   

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