Peter Scott (Anti-terror measures will make us the ‘extremists’ we fear, 2 December) says the government is legislating to ban “extremist” speakers from universities. It is doing nothing of the kind. Free speech is fundamental to universities. There are established criminal sanctions against promoting or inciting violence, and civil remedies for libel. Beyond that, we all have subjective views on what is or isn’t “extreme”, and it is not the role of the law to be prescriptive.
The legislation will involve guidance to universities on how to protect students from being drawn into terrorism and we are shortly consulting on that guidance. Far from suppressing free speech, we will want to ensure that there is a proper opportunity to challenge religious and extremist speakers.
Dr Vince Cable MP
Secretary of state, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Peter Scott does well to emphasise the central importance of academic freedom to a genuine university education, and to warn that a minister could stifle it using powers being taken in the present counter-terrorism and security bill. The government could minimise this danger by adding a clause to the effect that the powers of “guidance” and “direction” could not be used to prevent the right of staff and students “to question and test received wisdom and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions”. This particular formulation of academic freedom was forced on the Thatcher government by a strong-minded House of Lords.
Karl Jaspers, who was forced from his academic post by the Nazis, said: “No state intolerant of any restriction on its power for fear of the consequences of a pure search for truth, will ever allow a genuine university to exist.” Surely we haven’t reached that stage yet?
David Packham
University of Bath
• Bravo, Laura Clayson (Anti-terror bill: how radical ideas could be a crime on campus, 2 December). Stay strong and committed, and you’d better be careful who you strike up any intimate relationship with at Lancaster. I’m not serious, but this in fact is no joking matter. Your story is alarming, given the nature of your two “extremist” posters: pro-Gaza and anti-shale. How close to a Tory police state are we? (And should this letter be printed, maybe I should ask for my name to be omitted.)
John Airs
Liverpool
