Dr Tony Sewell
(Picture: Photo by ITV/REX)The “shocking” decision to strip a leading London education expert of his honorary degree after he said the UK was not institutionally racist calls into question free speech on university campuses, MPs heard on Tuesday.
Tom Hunt MP said he and his colleagues were “appalled” at the decision by Nottingham University to strip Dr Tony Sewell of his honorary degree and pledged not to let the matter lie.
Dr Sewell, who set up the charity Generating Genius which prepares underprivileged London children for university, also chaired the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which found that class, family influence, wealth, culture and religion “have more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism”.
The University of Nottingham said given the "political controversy", the degree award was no longer appropriate.
Mr Hunt, Conservative MP for Ipswich, told the education select committee that 60 MPs have written to Nottingham University saying they are “appalled” at the decision.
He said: “Both myself and a large number of colleagues were really shocked by a recent decision by the university of Nottingham to strip Tony Sewell of his honorary degree. I mean shocked, really shocked. And concerned about what the decision says and speaks to with regards to the extent that some of our leading universities truly do respect freedom of speech in different forms.
“It makes nonsense of the claim that the Free Speech Bill is not needed. Quite clearly it is needed and that is evidence of that.”
He said Dr Sewell has a “world view that might differ slightly from the world view of many of the students but is within the parameters of legitimate debate”.
He added: “There are a lot of these debates that kick off from time to time in the media but I must just stress the extent and the large number of colleagues who were appalled by the decision by the University of Nottingham. A letter will be going signed by about 60 MPs to the University of Nottingham and we will not let it lie.”
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said the Freedom of Speech bill will create new powers which will allow the Office for Students to tackle issues of free speech more effectively, including situations such as the Dr Sewell incident. She agreed there is a “serious evidenced issue about lack of free speech within universities and we will be working with government as the bill progresses.”
She added: “The bill, if it is implemented, gives us significant new powers to require universities to protect free speech explicitly. At the moment we have powers but they are indirect.”
The Freedom of Speech Bill would impose requirements for universities and students’ unions to protect freedom of speech.
Miriam Cate, Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, highlighted research on academic freedom that shows 41 per cent of academics on campus feel the need to self-censor.
She said: “Feeling uncomfortable intellectually is the driving force for academic creativity, and is almost cushioning the feelings of students leading to the problem?”
Quintin McKellar, vice president for Universities UK said: “Most universities would go to the end of the earth to maintain freedom of speech…but we are all concerned about the cancel culture and we are all concerned about the issues which are suppressing freedom of speech.”
He raised the issue of staff in some universities putting forward pro-Russian propaganda and questioned “should we uphold the free speech in that circumstance? These are not simple issues.”
