Oxford reported to OfS over alleged ‘free speech failures’

Campaigners have reported the University of Oxford to the Office for Students (OfS) over free speech concerns after a series of lectures were cancelled because of protests.

Earlier this month, Michael Foran, an associate professor at Oxford, called off the talks he was due to give on “gender critical and gender identity belief”, after pro-trans protesters disturbed the opening two events.

Oxford’s faculty of law has since announced that the lectures will instead go ahead in the next academic year but the group Alumni for Free Speech (AFFS) has written to the university alleging that its response has been inadequate. 

AFFS says that it identified “apparent serious free speech protection failures” regarding its “handling of [the] protests”.

The concerns come ahead of the OfS launching its free speech complaints scheme this autumn while universities are already bound by stricter rules regarding free speech that came into place last year. 

AFFS outlines in the letter that the initial protest that disrupted the first lecture appears to “have been approved to happen by the Proctor’s Office...leading to heated confrontations between protesters and attendees”.

The group writes that it was “amazed” that Oxford’s Proctor’s Office could “possibly have thought it appropriate to allow a protest inside the lecture theatre” and that “not allowing protesters inside a lecture theatre is surely common sense, as well as a legal obligation reflected in the OfS Guidance”, adding and that it is “highly likely to have acted unlawfully as well having committed regulatory failures”. 

“It is even more extraordinary that, after the disruption at the first lecture and the subsequent complaints, the Proctor’s Office did not consider its actions and the requirements carefully, including escalation and taking legal advice, and get its compliance right the second time round by keeping the protests out of the lecture theatre/building.”

Citing the Equalities Act, the university’s obligations under OfS’s conditions of registration, and Oxford’s own free speech code and harassment policy, it says the “obvious step” should be to take “disciplinary action” against the protesters. 

The letter recommends that the university issue a “full apology” to those affected and reiterate its commitment to free speech, as well as publicly remind staff and students of their free speech responsibilities, including through induction and training.

It also recommends that the university appoint a “free speech officer” to act as an “internal advocate for free speech and academic freedom” and ensure Oxford meets its legal obligations.  

“Given the compliance disaster that has occurred, we urge that the best way to secure future compliance is to appoint an external expert (with appropriate levels of specialist knowledge) to conduct a full review of all the issues raised above, to identify what went wrong and why (not just in the Proctor’s Office, but in the University more widely), and to make recommendations for changes so as to secure future compliance, “ it writes.

The university declined to comment. 

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com