Free Speech Union Australia

Hanging together

I was pleased to see that the Free Speech Union now has an Australian branch, which I joined immediately. I am already a member of the UK branch.

Why would I join? Shortly, we need as many bulwarks to protect academic freedom as we can.

Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

The New Zealand branch of the FSU released the following today:

An internal University of Auckland survey has once again confirmed concerns that the Free Speech Union has raised for several years: academic freedom is under fire in New Zealand. This is a serious issue, but our leaders have their hands in the sand. We must be willing to face ‘groupthink’ and denounce its proponents, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union:

“Today, BusinessDesk journalists Victoria Young and Oliver Lewis reported very low scores on a range of issues in a survey leaked to them. Responding to the statement, ‘I feel able to respectfully voice my views without fear of any negative impact’, only 15% of academic staff in the law school agreed. 

The summary of the University of Auckland survey itself notes ‘Academic staff responses are unfavourable and statistically unfavourable in regards to respectfully voicing their view.’

Inexplicably, the Tertiary Education Union, the outfit responsible for representing university staffs’ interests and voices, refused to comment on these results. A university spokeswoman claimed ‘the survey results for the Law School reflect broad trends across the university.’

These results are even lower than the results from this year’s Free Speech Union Academic Freedom Survey, where only 46% of staff across all eight universities agreed they felt free to question received wisdom and state controversial and unpopular opinions.

Many responses in that survey referred to a ‘climate of fear’ and a large number mentioned concerns about job security or barriers to promotion for expressing the ‘wrong’ views. Across every metric, responses indicate academics feel less free than they did last year. 

Freedom in the university sector is stagnating, and its leaders either don’t know or don’t care. We need to pay attention and do something—our future is far more bleak without solutions, as disruptive or unexpected as they may be, that move us forward.”

I have had some really worrying conversations lately, which seem to mirror this press release.

I feel less free to speak my mind than I did a year ago. I am a Professor, and tough enough to take whatever is thrown my way. It’s unpleasant, but I have weathered several storms over the last fifteen or more years.

I will confess, however, that I was persuaded not to speak out on a controversial topic earlier this year. I was told that if I did so, it might adversely affect my colleagues. It was the suggestion that I might harm my colleagues that stopped me in my tracks.

I keep thinking about it. Was I a coward? Did I allow myself to be manipulated by fear? Or am I a fool, for speaking my mind?

I made an unpopular suggestion in a meeting some weeks back, provoking a backlash against me. Afterwards I lay down on my bed, thinking, “Why the f**k did you have to open your big fat mouth again, Katy?” Unfortunately, I seem to be built this way.

As some have pointed out, I can’t fight an entire battle by charging over a hill alone, sword aloft, screaming—much though my inner Celt really likes the idea—but then I recall that the bards sang of a lot of battles that ended up in glorious death and defeat.

The Dying Gaul, Capitoline Museum Rome, antmoose and one more author (CC BY 2.0)

It’s said that upon signing the United States’ Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1778, Benjamin Franklin said, “we must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately.” No one seems sure that he actually said these words, but it seems clear that this reflected the feeling of those present at the time.

We must all hang together, lest we hang separately.