Mike Parry has heralded the appointment of a free speech tsar who promises to clamp down on woke universities.
Professor Arif Ahmed, a former philosophy professor at the University of Cambridge, has spoken out on fearing speaking his mind as an academic.
He has now taken on the role of Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom of the Office for Students (OfS).
Ahmed has made promising noises with regards to concerns surrounding freedom of speech at university, insisting the OfS will protect the “lawful speech rights of speakers at universities”.
Mike Parry has praised the new bid to clampdown wokeism at universities
GB NEWS
Speaking on GB News, broadcaster Mike Parry lauded the development, adding that it “came out of the blue”.
“It’s really good news”, he said.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
“It’s come out of the blue, I’ve never heard of this either.
“We’re pushing back on cancel culture. The best line from what he’s said is, ‘I understand the chilling effect of group think’.
“He’s really getting into the idea that 14 people sending out Twitter messages could close down a speaker at a university just because they are offended.”
GB News host Bev Turner waded in on the discussion by saying it “feels about time”, but questioned whether he would be “political”.
Kathleen Stock's talk at Oxford Union was disrupted in AprilPAJournalist Emma Woolf responded by saying Ahmed “doesn’t want to get involved in the culture wars”, adding he is “politically neutral”.
“He is launching his mission at King’s College with a speech all about how being offended, jokes, satire, being challenged, having views you don’t agree with, are part of the educational experience”, she said.
“He wants to challenge university students to think.”
University students have sought to shut down debates and discussions in recent years leading to concern about indoctrination.
One case was when gender-critical academic Kathleen Stock visited Oxford Union in May, leading to hundreds of people protesting outside the building.
Stock said she was “determined” for the talk to go ahead despite the angry response.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even waded in on the incident, saying Stock’s talk should be allowed to go ahead.
“Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views”, he said.
“University should be an environment where debate is supported, not stifled.
“We mustn’t allow a small but vocal few to shut down discussion.”
Stock’s talk went ahead, despite efforts to scupper the event from outside and inside the venue, with one protester even gluing themselves to the floor in front of her.
