UK students are becoming increasingly aware of risks to free speech on campuses, but while there is support for legislation, most feel that open debate is the way to overcome the issues, in what researchers have described as a rejection of the “culture wars”.
One of most in-depth surveys to date exploring students’ attitudes to freedom of expression, published by The Policy Institute at King’s College London on 29 September, finds that 49 per cent of students feel that universities are becoming less tolerant of a wide range of viewpoints, while only 11 per cent disagree. One in four students says they very or fairly often heard of incidents on campus where free speech is inhibited, up from 12 per cent in a similar survey conducted three years ago.
