Arif Ahmed shortlisted to be Government’s new Director of Freedom of Speech

Prof Arif Ahmed, a professor of philosophy at Cambridge, is the frontrunner in the race to become what the?Telegraph?are calling “the Government’s new Free Speech Champion”. The position, formally known as the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom, will be created via the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, with the chosen candidate appointed to the board of the independent regulator for higher education in England, the Office for Students (OfS).

The very fact that this role exists is a timely corrective to the claim frequently made by the Bill’s critics – both in the House of Lords (Collins, Coventry, D’Souza, Wallace, Willetts) and the professional higher education lobby – that the establishment of a new statutory tort enabling students and academics to sue their universities if they breach the new free speech duties will cause an excess of frivolous, burdensome and costly litigation for universities.

It is virtually certain, for instance, that a judge would pressure any claimant to exhaust the OfS route before proceeding with a claim in the civil courts –?and the claimant would risk significant adverse costs if he or she proceeded in those circumstances. In that sense, the Director will be the first port of call in any complaint procedure, investigating possible breaches of free speech legal duties, such as universities no-platforming speakers or dismissing academics because of their views, and advising the OfS on imposing fines. The scheme will be informal and free to use. Like any public decision-maker, the legality of his or her decisions will be reviewable by the High Court. This is a proportionate, sensible solution for those many cases where someone has been treated unfairly and court proceedings would be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut – for instance, a student disciplined for saying the ‘wrong’ thing. But for the more serious cases, the alternative remedy – taking a university to the county court – also needs to be in place.

Prof Ahmed has said that one of his biggest concerns about freedom of speech on campuses is the “direct intimidation and cancellation of speakers and academics” (FT,?Mail,?Times). He has also criticised universities “race awareness” training, which asks academics to “assume racism is everywhere”. He said some universities are taking “a corporate position on contentious issues” and are demonstrating a micro-management of speech, typically via harassment and discrimination policies (Times).

In December, the professor was appointed to the board of the Government’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, a group of experts charged with enforcing equalities legislation (Telegraph).

Will he get the OfS role too? He certainly faces tough competition from other shortlisted candidates, including Nick Hillman, director of?the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank?and a former special adviser to Lord Willetts, the Conservative peer (Times Higher). The?Telegraph?says that Lord Willetts is among those pushing for Mr Hillman to be appointed to the role.

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