A FORMER principal at an Oxford college has said universities are complicit in stifling free speech.
Baroness Deech, who was principal of St Anne’s College, warned of a trend within British universities to mute the ‘free exchange of ideas’ in order to protect students’ ‘right not to be offended’, citing universities turning down controversial speakers as an example.
Lady Deech, in a letter to The Times, said: “They claim a right not to be offended, but we cannot secure freedom of expression if we all maintain a right not to be offended.
“Extremist speakers are not being challenged because the students themselves are silencing the challengers.”
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