{"id":2532,"date":"2025-08-14T03:31:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2532"},"modified":"2025-08-14T10:43:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T09:43:18","slug":"the-freedom-to-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2532","title":{"rendered":"The Freedom to Agree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Freedom of speech was a defining issue in Cambridge University\u2019s recent Chancellorship race<\/a>. The victor, Lord Smith of Finsbury, told The Observer<\/em> <\/a>that it is \u201cour touchstone<\/em>\u201d. He praised the Vice Chancellor\u2019s passionate advocacy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“It\u2019s why I\u2019m delighted that since she arrived at Cambridge as our Vice Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice has placed such emphasis on the free interplay of speech and ideas. She has introduced a series of Vice Chancellor\u2019s dialogues as a forum for modelling constructive disagreement and encouraging engagement with different opinions.” [Lord Smith of Finsbury]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Too often, \u201cfreedom of speech\u201d is invoked as the right to criticise others\u2014never as the duty to tolerate criticism of ourselves or to examine our own actions. Notwithstanding Professor Prentice’s & Lord Smith’s passion, this is very much the case at Cambridge University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, an HR Business Partner circulated a link for yet another survey on staff experience on Cambridge University’s internal Viva Engage site!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Student wrote a short post in reply suggesting the person to look at this article<\/a> in The Guardian<\/em> before encouraging members to fill out yet more surveys. It discusses the fate of the University’s own Staff Culture Survey<\/a>, the results of which were so bad that they have never fully appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several people liked the post. Some members contacted the Student thanking him for posting. One day later, the post had completely vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happened? The answer came the following day by the Office of External Affairs and Communications:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The guidelines explain that Viva Engage should be… a safe, welcoming and inclusive community in which users treat one another with courtesy and professionalism even when challenging others\u2019 views and opinions. There is no place for bullying, harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct or victimisation. Users of Viva Engage should ensure they follow the University\u2019s Code of Behaviour when posting or responding to material on the site\u2026 Having reviewed this post, I have decided to delete it on the grounds that it contravenes the acceptable use guidelines.\u201d [Office of External Affairs and Communications]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Another shocking example is provided by the events described in The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/a> A senior administrator commissioned an independent report by a barrister into bullying events at its Institute of Astronomy. Several staff members pulled out of providing testimony to the barrister over \u201cfears they would face retaliation<\/em>\u201d (a direct quote from the barrister\u2019s report). Staff actually feared to say what had happened to them, lest HR or central administration retaliate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiously, senior administrators did not seem very concerned when they learnt of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It strikes at the very heart of a university if academics are frightened of speaking up because of retaliation. It is the opposite of Freedom of Speech. In fact, this is common in a number of Cambridge University investigations known to the 21 Group. Staff are unwilling to talk to the investigator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inspector TRUSCOTT brings his fist down on the back of Hal’s neck. HAL cries out in pain and collapses on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRUSCOTT: If you oppose me in my duty, I’ll kick those teeth through the back of your head. Is that clear?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The door chimes)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAY: Would you excuse me, Inspector?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRUSCOTT: You’re at liberty to answer your own doorbell, miss. That is how we tell whether or not we live in a free country. [From ‘Loot’ by Joe Orton]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You’re at liberty to agree with the senior administration. That is how we tell whether or not we enjoy Freedom of Speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freedom of speech was a defining issue in Cambridge University\u2019s recent Chancellorship race. The victor, Lord Smith of Finsbury, told The Observer that it is \u201cour touchstone\u201d. He praised the Vice Chancellor\u2019s passionate advocacy: “It\u2019s why I\u2019m delighted that since she arrived at Cambridge as our Vice Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2532"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2553,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532\/revisions\/2553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}