Office for Students director for freedom of speech and academic freedom Arif Ahmed is passionate about the importance of his role. At stake, he believes, is the very future of democracy itself.
In his first public statement since starting the role, Ahmed will today give a speech at King’s College London where he will say:
For many students, university might be the only time in their lives when they have both the time and the relative freedom to embark on this exploration [of religious and political views]. A generation deprived of that freedom may never truly appreciate what it has lost.
Speaking in advance of the speech, he is keen to emphasise that regulating freedom of speech in higher education isn’t anything to do with politics, culture wars or political wedge issues, but is “fundamentally a quality issue.” If students are not exposed to varied points of view or challenged on their cherished opinions, they haven’t, in Ahmed’s view, had a very good student experience, even if the form that challenge takes is “offensive or shocking.”
