Your report on the scrapping of the previous government’s free speech law did not mention the severe restrictions on freedom of speech that have been happening across university campuses since 7 October when it comes to protesting against or even just discussing Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip (Labour halts Tory law on freedom of speech in English universities, 26 July).
These include cancelling academic events or requiring organisers to overcome unreasonable bureaucratic hurdles, investigations into the social media postings of staff and students, disciplinary proceedings against staff and students and, more recently, the use of costly legal proceedings to evict student encampments. The failure to acknowledge the suppression of freedom of expression in universities in relation to Palestinian rights is a terrible oversight that further compounds the problem and, ultimately, contributes to a wider erosion of freedom to dissent.
Nicola Pratt
Coventry
