04/03/2021
Is Gavin Williamson the worst Education Secretary ever? So asks Peter Wilby in the Guardian this week. Elsewhere in the same paper, comes a report that the Vice Chancellor of Profysgol Caerdydd in Cardiff has challenged the Secretary over remarks he made about universities supposedly closing down free speech. Mr Williamson has proposed legislation that would guarantee the freedom of speech on campus for those with offensive views, such as right wing extremists and separatist feminists. Mr Williamson says that a change in the law is needed because freedom of speech is under attack by left wing institutions and students unions. Not so, explains Professor Colin Riordan, who along with other academics has made mincemeat of Williamson's claims. Chief among the distortions and untruths is the claim that Germaine Greer the former radical feminist and disgraced star of reality television, was not allowed to address a crowd at Cardiff because of her views on transgender people. Not so: the event went ahead as planned, and there was no ban. Professor David Green at the University of Worcester, said that the government was wilfully distorting the culture of universities at a time of their greatest achievements. He said “universities are riding high in public affection because university researchers have produced a vaccine, and provided the science needed to understand what is going on, and people know we educate the nurses and doctors on the frontline.”
