Extracts from second reading debate (Commons) of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill - July 12
Tuesday, 13 July 2021 08:59
Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab):...Rather than pushing
universities to offer permanent, well-paid contracts, the
Conservatives are content to sit on the sidelines while launching
their own attacks on academic freedom. Whether it is Government
Members demanding that the Department for Education sack academics
at the University of Warwick in my constituency, or Ministers
chasing critics of Britain’s imperial past off the boards of
museums and cultural institutions, or Lord Wharton, chair...Request free trial
(Coventry South) (Lab):...Rather than pushing
universities to offer permanent, well-paid contracts, the
Conservatives are content to sit on the sidelines while launching
their own attacks on academic freedom. Whether it is Government
Members demanding that the Department for Education sack academics
at the University of Warwick in my
constituency, or Ministers chasing critics of Britain’s imperial
past off the boards of museums and cultural institutions, or Lord
Wharton, chair of the Office for Students and previously head of
the Prime Minister’s Conservative leadership campaign, telling
Oxford academics to
“leave their personal politics at home”,
this Government and their allies are happy to silence those who
dissent from their agenda, while giving free rein to fascists and
holocaust deniers to spout their hate...
(Bury South) (Con):...Just last month,
the University of Warwick assembly
passed a motion to challenge the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
The university—I hope that the shadow Minister will address
this—has failed to condemn the motion, despite calls from Jewish
students to do so. The Union of Jewish Students rightly
asked:
“How can they claim they want to fulfil their moral duty to
protect all members, which includes Jewish students, when this
motion clearly disregards the wants and needs of Jewish
students?”
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