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Protecting free speech and academic freedom in universities

Cram, Ian; Fenwick, Helen

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Authors

Ian Cram



Abstract

Restrictions on speaking events in universities have been created both by recent student‐led efforts at ‘no‐platforming’ and by Part 5 of the Counter‐terrorism and Security Act 2015 which placed aspects of the government's Prevent strategy on a statutory basis. The statutory Prevent duty in universities includes, under the accompanying Guidance, curbing or monitoring events that could have an impact in drawing persons into terrorism. This article places the combined impact of Part 5 and student‐led curbs on campus speech in context by juxtaposing pre‐existing restrictions with the various free speech duties of universities. Focusing on speaking events, it evaluates the resulting state of free speech and academic freedom in universities. It finds potential violations of established free speech norms due to the impact of pre‐emptive strikes against some campus‐linked speech articulating non‐mainstream viewpoints. But it also argues that not all such speech has a strong foundation within such norms.

Citation

Cram, I., & Fenwick, H. (2018). Protecting free speech and academic freedom in universities. Modern Law Review, 81(5), 825-873. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12366

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 16, 2018
Online Publication Date Aug 31, 2018
Publication Date Sep 1, 2018
Deposit Date Jun 20, 2018
Publicly Available Date Aug 31, 2019
Journal Modern Law Review
Print ISSN 0026-7961
Electronic ISSN 1468-2230
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 81
Issue 5
Pages 825-873
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12366
Keywords Prevent’ duty, student no-platforming policies, universities, Article 10 ECHR, Counter-terrorism and Security Act 2015, Human Rights Act, speech values
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1328692

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Cram, Ian & Fenwick, Helen (2018). Protecting free speech and academic freedom in universities. Modern Law Review 81(5): 825-873, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12366. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.






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