policy & reform campusreview. com. au
The fight for free speech
An ideological battle rages on campuses over who has the right to say what.
By Conor Burke
“ Lest. We. Forget( Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine).” – Yassmin Abdel-Magied
“ When you hear about slavery for 400 years – for 400 years! – that sounds like a choice. Like, you was there for 400 years and it’ s all of y’ all? It’ s like we’ re mentally in prison.” – Kanye West
The quotes above are two different examples of people expressing free speech, the only similarities being the immense furore both created. It seems that to have an opinion can be a dangerous endeavour of late, and freedom of speech is certainly the hot topic of the moment. And to believe some, it is the most important political issue of our time.
Here in Australia the sides seem to be divided politically, left versus right. Political fights such as the same-sex marriage debate and 18C divided us ideologically. But is the next battlefield for this fight the campuses of our universities?
There is a growing concern that academic freedom of expression, and freedom of speech more broadly, is being quieted on campuses around the country. Academic freedom is enshrined in the Higher Education Support Act 2003, but do we really have it here in Australia?
Katharine Gelber, professor of politics and public policy at the University of
Queensland, believes we have nothing to worry about.“ In my view, there’ s no evidence of a concerted effort to undermine academic freedom. Quite to the contrary, I think university managements are very sensitive to the issue of academic freedom.”
Gelber sees this argument as an extension of the wider ideological battle being waged.
“ One direction from which accusations about an undermining of academic freedom are coming, is from people who try and make the argument that Australian universities are dominated by leftists who either won’ t allow conservative / Liberal views to be heard in the classroom, or if they do, they either discriminate against them or punish them,” she says.
Left-wing bias in universities has long been an accusation from conservative circles.
In a recent piece for The Australian, Matthew Lesh, research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs( IPA), said that:“ Universities, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, are dominated by progressives. A US study found less than 10 per cent of academics identify as conservative, while another study found 39 per cent of US campuses have no Republicans. The situation in Australia appears to be similar.” Gelber disagrees.“ There’ s been some really good empirical research done, more in the United States than in Australia, on allegations of left wing bias in universities, which show a) students are very, very bad at guessing the apparent ideological leanings of their lecturers, and b) … the greater the gaps that they perceive between their lecturer’ s ideological leanings and their own, the more likely they are to accuse the lecturer of bias,” she says.
BATTLEGROUNDS A recent example of the free speech battle is being played out at the University of Melbourne over a new enterprise agreement, with several staff and union members unhappy at what they see as“ a backwards step”.
Steve Adams, the president of the Melbourne branch of the NTEU, believes his university is trying to gain more latitude when it comes to dealing with potentially troublesome staff or issues.
“ I think they’ re attempting to get a bit more control over staff, and tighten the reins somewhat to guard themselves against any possible threat.”
This is part of a major contention by the union, academics and commentators that indirect pressures on university staff will elicit a so-called“ chilling effect”.
Many believe that indirect actions, such as enterprise bargaining, or policies that address behaviour, hurt feelings or unwelcome comments, have an effect on free speech and will ultimately adversely affect the standing of our academic achievements.
Previously held up by many as an example of an institution with a very sound academic freedom policy, the University of Melbourne recently attempted to remove protections from the enterprise agreement in negotiations with staff.
“ The clause around academic and intellectual freedom was being removed,” Adams says.“ We asked about that, and they said that they believed they have a great policy and that policy is where it should remain.
“ The uni does have a policy, but I should make it clear too that that policy only extends to academic staff; it doesn’ t extend to professional staff, so they have no protection.
“ And a policy can change at any time, with little or no input from the staff. Whereas, if we have something enshrined in something like an enterprise agreement, then there are legal protections.”
When pressed on the sudden need to remove the clause, the university didn’ t appear to have too many answers, Adams says.“[ There was ] not a lot of rigour to their argument as to why it should no longer belong in the agreement and should only exist in policy.”
“ Within the law faculty, a number of the professors there wrote to the university to express their concerns, and they were unhappy with it.”
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