Academic freedom in the UK Protecting viewpoint diversity Remi Adekoya, Eric Kaufmann, and Thomas Simpson Foreword by Ruth Smeeth Academic freedom in the UK Protecting viewpoint diversity Remi Adekoya, Eric Kaufmann, and Thomas Simpson Foreword by Ruth Smeeth Policy Exchange is the UK’s leading think tank. We are an independent, non-partisan educational charity whose mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas that will deliver better public services, a stronger society and a more dynamic economy. Policy Exchange is committed to an evidence-based approach to policy development and retains copyright and full editorial control over all its written research. We work in partnership with academics and other experts and commission major studies involving thorough empirical research of alternative policy outcomes. We believe that the policy experience of other countries offers important lessons for government in the UK. We also believe that government has much to learn from business and the voluntary sector. Registered charity no: 1096300. Trustees Diana Berry, Alexander Downer, Pamela Dow, Andrew Feldman, David Harding, Patricia Hodgson, Greta Jones, Edward Lee, Charlotte Metcalf, David Ord, Roger Orf, Andrew Roberts, George Robinson, Robert Rosenkranz, William Salomon, Peter Wall, Simon Wolfson, Nigel Wright. Academic freedom in the UK About the Authors Dr Remi Adekoya teaches Politics at the University of Sheffield. A writer and political scientist interested in identity and African development, he has written for the Guardian, Spectator, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Washington Post and Politico among others. He is a regular columnist for Business Day, a Nigerian daily. Adekoya is the author of the upcoming book Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking at Race (Little, Brown 2021), which explores race and identity from a mixed-race perspective. Eric Kaufmann is a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. A political scientist, Kaufmann is the author of numerous books, examining the impact of ideological and population shifts on identity and politics. These include Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth (Profile 2010) and Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities (Penguin 2018). Thomas Simpson is an Associate Fellow at Policy Exchange, and an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy, at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. A former officer with the Royal Marines Commandos, Simpson works on a variety of issues in moral and political philosophy. He co-edited The Philosophy of Trust (Oxford University Press 2017) and is concluding his first monograph,Trust . 2 | policyexchange.org.uk About the Authors © Policy Exchange 2020 Published by Policy Exchange, 8 – 10 Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AE www.policyexchange.org.uk ISBN: 978-1-913459-36-9 policyexchange.org.uk | 3 Academic freedom in the UK Contents About the Authors 2 Foreword 6 Executive summary 7 Chilling effects on academic research and teaching 8 Career progression, grant applications and discrimination 9 Outside the classroom 10 Wider context 10 The law and devolution 11 Summary of results 12 Summary of recommendations 13 Part I. What academic freedom requires 16 A brief history of academic freedom 18 A first lesson for today: academic freedom should be a cross-partisan concern 22 A second lesson for today: academic freedom requires that presumptions about intent must be rejected 23 A third lesson for today: the need for an institutional response 24 A new problem today: threats to academic freedom from within the university 26 Are incidents of no-platforming and academic dismissal actually a cause for concern? 31 Limits to freedom of association for public bodies 35 The boundaries of viewpoint diversity to be drawn by law 36 Does academic freedom protect racism? 38 Freedom in research and teaching is the central concern, not no-platforming 40 Is government regulation compatible with academic freedom? 41 Part II. Experience and views of faculty in the UK 44 Overview 44 Trends from existing work on UK- and US-based academics 45 Research questions 50 Methods 51 Political preferences of UK academics 52 Chilling effects 53 Political discrimination 59 Dismissal campaigns 65 Discussion 68 4 | policyexchange.org.uk Contents Part III. Existing legal and regulatory framework 71 Statutory obligations on freedom of speech and academic freedom from the 1980s 71 Recognition of Student Unions 73 Protections for academic freedom under the European Convention on Human Rights 73 Additional sources of law: the Equality Act 2010 and the Prevent duty 74 Higher Education and Research Act 2017 78 Subsequent reports and guidance: the JCHR enquiry and EHRC guidance 81 Summary 85 Part IV. Policies to protect academic freedom in the UK 86 How Parliament can protect academic freedom 88 How the Office for Students can protect academic freedom 97 How civil society can promote academic freedom 100 How the Department for Education can promote academic freedom 102 How universities can promote academic freedom 104 Annex 1— Statistical analysis 110 policyexchange.org.uk | 5 Academic freedom in the UK Foreword Ruth Smeeth, CEO Index on Censorship It was recently suggested to me that I might have been a target of a little too much free speech in recent years, so it could be viewed as strange that I am so passionate about protecting our collective rights to free speech. But honestly, I have a romantic view of one of our most important human rights. Free speech should be challenging; it should drive debate and ultimately force all of us to continually reflect on our own views. Free speech should manifest in different ways in different forums. In literature, it should drive our intellectual curiosity about the world around us. In journalism, it should shine a light on the powerful and ensure that the world is informed. And in academia, it should drive debate about the status quo demanding that we continually evolve as a society. It’s only by the guarantee of this core human right that we can ensure that we are the best that we can be, that our arguments are robust and that they can sustain criticism. Simply put, debate makes us better as individuals and as a society, it also makes our arguments more rounded and demands of us the intellectual rigour that drives positive change. That’s why this publication is so important. Throughout our history, we’ve seen a cyclical approach towards academic freedom, but the reality is that only when our centres of learning are truly independent have we thrived as a society. This research isn’t about determining who is right or wrong, or whose voice is more valuable on any given issue but rather the proposals are designed to ensure that there is still a free and fair debate on our campuses. That the academic freedom that we all should cherish is given the protections it needs. It does the country no good if our educators, our academics, our scholars and most importantly our students feel that they can’t speak or engage without fear of retribution. We all know that legislation is not a panacea to the chilling effect of what is happening in our public space for anyone that challenges the status quo. It can’t and won’t change the culture on campus but what it can do and what this document squarely aims to do is inform, engage and start a debate about what should be important to us. As a society, we need to have our own national conversation about our core human rights and how they should manifest in the twenty-first century. We need to decide collectively where the lines should be between hate speech and free speech, between academic inquiry and ‘research’ designed to incite, between journalism and purveyors of fake news. This research is an important part of that conversation. 6 | policyexchange.org.uk Executive summary Executive summary Britain’s universities are world-leading. Yet there is growing concern that academic freedom in these institutions is being undermined in a way that departs from the liberal traditions and democratic norms of British society. This paper uses one of the largest representative samples of UK- based academics carried out in recent years to explore the concern that strongly-held political attitudes are restricting the freedom of those who disagree to research and teach on contested subjects. The report sets out what might be done, in the form of legislation—specifically an Academic Freedom Bill—and other measures to ensure that a) universities support intellectual dissent, which drives progress and innovation and b) all lawful speech is protected on campus. That fundamental principle—that all lawful speech should be protected in our universities—is the position of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Office for Students, and is affirmed by the statutory duty concerning freedom of speech in universities (the ‘Section 43’ duty; see Part III). The research contains mixed findings relating to academic freedom. It shows (with more robust data than previously) that the distribution of political preferences among UK-based academics has changed in recent decades, and is significantly more left-leaning today than before, with fewer than 20% voting for right-leaning parties, and about 75% voting for the Labour/Liberal Democrat/Green parties in 2017 and 2019. Much of this is explained by the association of advanced education and political preferences. There is, reassuringly, little support among most academics for dismissal campaigns against colleagues. For any given potential campaign, those who are opposed to a dismissal are likely to outnumber those in favour by 8 to 1. This understates the willingness to countenance a dismissal campaign, however. Across four hypothetical campaigns, against scholars undertaking controversial research, 1 in 4 current social science and humanities (SSH) academics were willing to support at least one.