When rules collide: navigating university free speech obligations
- Date & time
- –
- Speaker
- Paul Kohler, Smita Jamdar, Dr Agnes Kaposi MBE, FREng, Professor Adam HabibLiberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon; Partner and Head of Education at Shakespeare Martineau; Hungarian-born British engineer, educator and author; Vice Chancellor, SOAS
- Location
- Portcullis House, Macmillan Room
- Organisation
- SOAS
About this talk
Universities are trying to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment in which free speech duties intersect with Prevent, equality obligations, safeguarding, and wider governance pressures. The challenge is not simply one of avoiding sanction, but of making decisions that are consistent, defensible, and properly evidenced. Yet with sanctions this has become particularly imperative: the government has announced that a new freedom of speech complaints system will be in place from the next academic year. Accordingly, the Office for Students can now issue significant fines if universities fail to protect freedom of speech. Universities are under pressure to ensure that new free speech rules are correctly implemented. This is the second of three panels on freedom of expression and academic freedom. Join our expert panel to dive into the intricacies of the challenges of balancing duties created by different competing regulations, and also look at solutions and mechanisms to support universities.
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