Defending Free Speech With No 'Ifs' Or 'Buts'
28 March 2011
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Without hearing the free speech of others we cannot come to a view of the truth of what they believe or of what we believe.
”Professor Dennis Hayes
'Academic freedom is not a privilege but a responsibility. It is the responsibility to speak your mind and challenge conventional wisdom'.
That is the view of University of Derby and top education academic Professor Dennis Hayes who will present his inaugural lecture entitled: 'The Limits of Academic Freedom' this Wednesday evening.
Dennis, Head of the University's Centre for Educational Research, is well known for his educational journalism and is a member of the editorial board of the Times Higher Education magazine. He is also the Honorary Secretary of the Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers (SCETT) which represents through its constituent bodies, the trade unions and professional associations, the interests of 750,000 teachers in supporting and developing teacher education.
His inaugural lecture takes place in the Courtroom (OL2) at the University's Kedleston Road site in Derby, on Wednesday, 30 March at 6.15pm.
Although many academics support academic freedom in the abstract, in practice it is bounded with caveats and exceptions. In this lecture, Professor Hayes will discuss various attempts to restrict the fundamental principle of the academy and will put the case for academic freedom without limits.
Professor Hayes said: "Freedom of speech in society is being closed down through fear of giving offence. Even in the university, which embodies that freedom above all else, it is harder than ever to speak your mind in case you might give offence.
"But freedom of speech is not just one value among many other it is the foundational value. Without hearing the free speech of others we cannot come to a view of the truth of what they believe or of what we believe.
"Setting 'limits' to free speech and academic freedom is commonplace in this new culture of fear. There are restrictions in law, in professional codes, in union rules, in educational statutes and codes of behaviour on what we must not say.
"All these 'limits' take away the right we have as fully autonomous adults to make up our own mind on any issue. Worse still they take away the possibility for young people to become fully autonomous human beings who can make up their own minds about any matter."
Academics, above all, he will tell his audience, have a new moral duty to oppose this new culture of fear of offence. They no longer just have the 'freedom' to speak, they have a responsibility to speak their mind and challenge conventional wisdom. If they remain silent they will fail themselves, their students and wider society.
Professor Hayes was the founder of the influential campaign group Academics For Academic Freedom, and was the guest editor and a contributor to the 2009 Special Edition of the British Journal of Educational Studies on Academic Freedom.
In this inaugural lecture, Professor Dennis Hayes will show how the limits put on academic freedom reinforce a diminished philosophy of what it is to be a human being. He will argue against all limitations, which is the traditional liberal approach to free speech and not at all 'extreme.' He says it is those who want to censor and ban and those who self-censor who are the new 'extremists'.
Is Professor Hayes right, or do we need to restrict free speech so that young or vulnerable people will not themselves be afraid to speak up? Shouldn't universities be a 'safe environment' in which students can learn to speak? Don't miss what promises to be a controversial and lively debate!
To book a place for Wednesday's talk visit : www.derby.ac.uk/hayes
