New guidance that will protect lawful free speech and empower students and universities has been unveiled by ten leading organisations to ensure campuses still remain a forum for open and robust enquiry.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has collaborated with leading organisations from across the sector to develop new guidance to be used by all institutions and students' unions, demonstrating the sector’s commitment to upholding freedom of expression.
This guidance is the first time that legal rights and obligations around free speech have been defined so coherently, empowering institutions, students' unions and individuals to stand up for free speech, and creating a structure for them to work together. It clarifies the limited occasions where free speech can lawfully be limited, allowing it to flourish for current and future generations of students.
Sector leaders agreed to create new guidance during a Department for Education free speech summit in May 2018, which has been produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, with input from the National Union of Students, Universities UK, Charity Commission for England and Wales, Office for Students, Independent HE, GuildHE, Commission for Countering Extremism and Home Office.
David Isaac, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: