UK Education Secretary Calls on Oxford Uni to Defend Free Speech After Rudd's ‘No-Platforming’

The British government’s Education Secretary has weighed into a debate on freedom of speech by calling for immediate action against students at Oxford University after former Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, was ‘no-platformed’ before a speech that she was due to give at the institution.

Student members of what was until recently called the UN Women Oxford Society withdrew Rudd’s invitation to address the famous Oxford Union just 30 minutes before she was due to participate in a discussion on the role of women in politics. Reports suggest that the society came under heavy pressure from students who were critical of the former Conservative minister’s role in the Windrush scandal among other policies that had an alleged impact on minorities in the UK.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson slammed the decision as “unacceptable” and called upon the authorities at Oxford to take “robust action” to defend free speech on campus. The decision against Rudd came hot on the heels of a similar incident in which feminist scholar Selina Todd was no-platformed by Oxford International Women’s Festival due to alleged pressure by students over Todd’s beliefs on transgenderism.

Speaking about both cases, Mr Williamson said that, “for two speakers to have been no-platformed at Oxford within a week is unacceptable. It is not enough to adopt free speech codes if they are not enforced.”

Then, issuing a stern warning, he added that, “I expect the University of Oxford to take robust action over these incidents - and if universities are not prepared to defend free speech, the government will.”

After being no-platformed, Rudd took to Twitter on March 6 to express her frustration, calling the decision “badly judged” and “rude.”

Subsequently, Oxford University weighed in, also on Twitter, saying that they “strongly disapprove of the decision by the UN Women Oxford UK Society to disinvite Amber Rudd after she had been asked to speak.”

​Support for Rudd also came in from unlikely areas, including the former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who said that “if you’re trying to silence Amber Rudd you really are being anti-democratic.”

Dr Sarah Wollaston, a former Conservative party MP who defected to the Liberal Democrats over Brexit disagreements, Tweeted, “Why are universities allowing ideological fringes to crush freedom of speech in our centres of excellence?”

The event, titled ‘In Conversation: Amber Rudd,’ had been organised by UN Women Oxford as part of its UN Women’s 2020 Trailblazer Series ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday March 8. The former Home Secretary was due to be interviewed about her earlier role as Minister for Women and Equalities and encouraging women to get into politics.

The incident, which has created an uproar in the UK and ignited fierce public debate on whether universities have become too restrictive of free speech, encouraged the UN’s UK national brach for women to distance itself from the Oxford society. Reportedly, the UN’s national UK body for women has requested that the Oxford group no longer make further association with it, including by using the ‘UN’ title in its name. As a consequence, the formally UN Women Oxford Society has changed its name to United Women Oxford Student Society.

It is said that the student society had originally invited Miss Rudd to speak about her own experiences being a woman in parliament. The society also promised an “honest and frank discussion” about the consequences of some of the ruling Conservative Party’s more controversial policies and their affects on women. However, it has been widely reported that major pressure was applied by students who were concerned with the former Home Secretary’s positions on immigration.

One such student, Nadia Awad, wrote in the Oxford University’s student newspaper that, she was concerned by Miss Rudd’s past reference to Labour’s Diane Abbott as a “coloured woman” during a discussion about the Windrush scandal.

“In the context of the painful lack of diversity in Oxford, and the wider atmosphere of the continued hostile environment, the last thing we need is Amber Rudd being hailed as a feminist advocate in our institution,” Ms Award wrote.

The president of the Oxford women’s group has been widely quoted as saying that “it was the Oxford African and Caribbean Society - who hold a lot of power - who really applied the pressure and forced us to cancel.”

However, in a subsequent Tweet, the society denied that allegation.

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