Student Experience of Freedom of Expression in UK Universities

Universities increasingly face criticism over freedom of expression – from claims that universities are succumbing to the demands of ‘snowflakes’ to a perceived increase in regulation, such as safe space policies and no platforming. But the extent of this commentary seems disproportionate to the number of events hosted at universities where freedom of expression is violated. And more importantly, is seldom informed by what students actually think about the issue. Central to this debate is a theme resonating throughout this workshop: the justifiable limits of free speech in a free and democratic society. In this paper, we present findings from two recent surveys: the first fielded with a sample of 2,155 students enrolled at UK universities, and a second, abridged survey fielded with 2,179 members of the public. Our presentation explores three findings: 1. Students think freedom of expression is important, but is more threatened in UK universities overall than in their own. This is reinforced by few students having directly witnessed violations of freedom of expression in their own university. 2. The UK student body differs in important ways from the US, where freedom of expression became a heated topic following the arrival of GenZ. In the UK, we find little difference in attitudes towards freedom of expression between students and the general population. 3. Students’ attitudes towards freedom of expression are not wholly explained by a left-right divide, as popularly assumed. Another factor is the degree to which they trust their institution to support freedom of expression: the largest group by far implicitly trusts actions taken by their institution; a second group has direct experience of protest and feels strongly that the system works for them; and a third, smaller group – our primary focus in this talk – is more ambivalent, placing conditional trust in their institution.