The Government has appointed a university freedom of speech champion who has taken up the role with a warning that “democracy is at stake”.
Cambridge lecturer Professor Arif Ahmed has been appointed as the director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the Office for Students with the role of promoting free speech at universities.
His appointment comes on the heels of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act and protests surrounding Professor Kathleen Stock’s talk to the Oxford Union over her views on gender identity.
Writing in The Times, Professor Ahmed said: “We settle disputes by discussion, not censorship or violence. Today that idea is fading.
“Universities must defend it. Democracy is at stake.”
