Membership is open to all students in the UK and Ireland who are committed to defending free speech and academic freedom.
SAFAF is a non-partisan group
Welcome to the new Student Academics For Academic Freedom X account. We are here to bring together students from across the UK and Ireland who believe in academic freedom and free speech. We look forward to respectful conversations and debates.
We will fight back against this attack on free speech and academic freedom. This Act was brought because academics and students were being silenced and or self censoring. We will push this Government to do the right thing and ensure the Act is implemented.
The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced the Labour Government is to AXE the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which previously amassed cross-party support and was given royal assent in May last year.
Speaking exclusively to UnHerd, FSU General Secretary
.
@RussellGroup
we are simply appalled by the inclusion of gender critical speech in this way. Have you learnt absolutely nothing from the many employment tribunals? We are students, some at RG unis and we will be fighting back against this!
The
@RussellGroup
response to the OfS consultation on free speech asks for examples of unlawful speech that need to be restricted, including "antisemitic, Islamophobic or gender critical speech".
Strange to clump the first two together with the third.
This is extremely disappointing
@bphillipsonMP
. We do not believe this Act is too burdensome for institutions at all. Free speech is too important and we will keep on fighting for it.
We are thrilled to say that SAFAF just hit 700 followers today! Thank you to all who follow, comment, repost and support us. We are a small (for now) but mighty bunch of students who believe in free speech and academic freedom. 💪❤️🙏
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
A beautifully written and poignant thread, Abhishek and many others spent years trying to get this bill over the line. It was 6 days from being implemented. 6 days to destroy years of work. We Students want to thank him and the many others involved. We will fight back.
🧵1/ This is a personal thread.
It is also a tale of two ministers.
One of them shepherded over the line the most significant bill on academic freedom in living memory.
The other released a written statement at 9:40 am today, killing it.
We are very disappointed that yet again free speech, academic freedom and debate has been cancelled. This time
@durham_uni
, if you are a student at Durham and are as appalled by this decision as we are please get in touch. We are a non partisan group for students run by students.
V disappointing to hear this. Sorry
@LanceForman
. What a shame for
@durham_uni
students not to be able to hear all sides of the argument.
#CancelCulture
really is enemy of education, a culture of open-minded, intellectual engagement & Academic Freedom. Alert to
@AFAF_freespeech
As its Friday and we are only 8 followers off of 400, please re-share. Lets get us over the line!
We are a group of students who believe in free speech in HE and other organisations. We support fully the rights of Academics and students to have academic freedom.
@WRNWales
@SwanseaUni
@SwanseaUniSU
We suggest that
@SwanseaUniSU
make a retraction of this statement and apologise to the speakers. This is not upholding free speech or academic freedom. You do not speak for every student on campus and we advise all students who can engage with critical thinking to attend.
It would appear that students aren't able to say we are for free speech and academic freedom without being accused of all sorts. This is why many of us remain anonymous and self censor when we are faced with this for simply stating that
@Fox_Claire
had written a good article. 🤷♀️
We are very sorry to hear of this Warren Smith, of the Secret Scholer Society, the lecturer who teaches critical thinking has just be fired by his College. The ones who will lose here, beside Warren, is his students. Critical thinking is being pushed out.
Hi all, this has been a fantastic panel tonight. For any students who are members of FSU or have listened to the event, please feel free to reach out to SAFAF. We are Students for free speech!
'After the Cass Review: free speech lessons from the Tavistock and beyond'. Join us tomorrow night (Tuesday 9th July) for this important event — online tickets for non-FSU members are just £5!
In-person tickets for Tuesday night are available below.
Excellent thread by Maya Forstater on one of the issues students and academics face at the moment. This is only one of a few topics which appear to be taboo at universities these days.
#edutwitter
A thread about academic freedom, sex and gender.
This is not the only topic where university VCs have not defended academic freedom strongly enough, but it is a very good demonstration of the problem.
@bphillipsonMP
'Attempts are being made to block the implementation of these measures'
Dr Carole Sherwood reports some therapists are openly flouting the findings of the Cass review to continue providing puberty blockers and other treatments to children struggling with their gender identity.
We have recently received many requests to suspend or otherwise impact accounts on the left.
However, 𝕏 is a free speech platform that aspires to give equal voice to all, within the bounds of the law.
That is what we will do.
🚨 The Government has made it clear it will not be commencing the Freedom of Speech Act, which was passed in the last parliament with cross-party support.
The Free Speech Union will therefore be applying for judicial review at the earliest possible opportunity.
If you haven't
This is appalling, activist groups should not be able to have such power over our professional bodies. The MOU is not fit for purpose and many of our students have concerns over its continued use. We need to call out this otherwise therapy is in danger.
Are you a student who feels they need to self censor? Have you seen any of your peers disciplined for asking legitimate questions? Would you like to ensure that free speech, academic freedom and critical thinking is restored in HE. Become a member! DM here or email us.
Wow this is quite the statement from the authors. Calling other Philosophers "transphobic" as they have gender critical views. Surely in order to really discuss a topic you need to consider other views?
No surprise that a philosophy paper about gender identity forthcoming in a respected journal should fail to cite any of those awful “gender critical” philosophers who have written extensively on the topic. What’s refreshing is that the authors are explicit about their reasons.
We urge the Secretary of State
@bphillipsonMP
to not delay the implementation of the regulation of the HE(FoS)Act 2023. We must ensure free speech and academic freedom for all students and academics in higher education. Students for Free Speech!
#edutwitter
@AFAF_freespeech
Instead of focusing on teaching divisive ideologies like critical race theory, schools should prioritise providing students with a well-rounded education that equips them with critical thinking skills and a nuanced understanding of history and social issues.
The litmus test of free speech today is whether universities and related organisations dare allow people to say that ‘biological sex is real’. Thoughts?
This is concerning and every student should be calling out their university for this. Has your university implemented the changes needed for 1st August? If not, why not?
Amid growing fears of “stalling tactics” in the university sector, a group of leading UK academics have written to the Times urging all parties to commit to supporting the implementation on August 1st of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act.
Students! If you want to listen to someone who advocates for critical thinking, free speech and academic freedom please give Warren a follow and on his YouTube channel as well.
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
Attack on the YouTube channel & Standing up to the mob.
“Their actions are revealing. I cannot articulate it as well as they can articulate themselves.”
@HJoyceGender
Unfortunately the BBC hasn't been impartial for a long time, on many issues. We do question the hiring of this person in light of his recent actions and previous comments.
This is why we need to push back on ideologies in Universities and other organizations. This is a course on Biology and Evolutionary Biology and it is simply spouting out pseudoscience. We need to be able to speak up as students and challenge this.
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
These are the last 6 slides from a BIOL 104: Principles of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology lecture at Yale, a required course for all pre-med students.
The slides attempt to obfuscate what males and females are by asserting that the binary concept of sex is "essentialist" and
We truly hope another publisher is brave enough to pick up Harry's book. The fact they won't be publishing any books seeking to address these issues is depressing to say the least. Cancel culture in action.
#Students
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
I have been cancelled. I was about to sign a deal for my topical book with a prominent publisher, and yesterday, they decided to walk away. And this is after months of discussion, as well as repeated emails supporting the publication of my work.
An (untold) story of our time.
@SVPhillimore
@BristolUni
Hi
@BristolUni
, we are extremely shocked to see this. We as Students uphold the right to free speech as should any university and student union worth its salt. We would like to request the Free Speech Code to which you refer to in the emails regarding Ms Phillimore. 1/2
Survey reveals that many U.S. psych professors self-censor their research on controversial topics. This adds to the growing concern over academic freedom and the impact of social pressures on scientific discourse.
@jgro_the
@timeshighered
Buy your tickets for the Ireland Free Speech Summit in Dublin tomorrow evening, 6-9pm!
There is now a 50% reduction in ticket price for students using the code FSI-STUDENTS
There will also be an evening reception in a beautiful venue nearby to which all guests are invited after
Join us on Wednesday 26th June, in London and online, for a special guest lecture by Prof Kaufmann, on 'the new taboos of diversity, equity and inclusion'. Tickets available below!
Calling all students who have faced barriers to their research on sex and gender.
@ProfAliceS
's review is calling for evidence. Please do submit if you have experience of this, student researchers and academics alike.
Have you faced any barriers to research on sex and gender?
If so, please submit your experience to the call for evidence.
We are looking for "ordinary" stories, not just dramatic ones.
This is why SAFAF was formed, we students in the UK and Ireland know this all too well. The worry of speaking up on controversial topics and voicing an opinion, leads inevitably to silence. The noisy minority are silencing the majority.
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
@AFAF_freespeech
Many students hesitate to discuss controversial issues in the classroom and on campus. This reluctance spans across all class standings, from freshmen to seniors, indicating that time spent in college doesn't ease these concerns.
See the full report at
@TamaraSearsUK
@BACP
Thank you for doing this. We need to call this out, gender critical beliefs are protected by law. We'd love to know who the supervisor is as we have a number of members who would appreciate supervision from this person compared to what they are currently having to deal with.
SAFAF members will be attending this event, if any students are attending and would like a chat about joining us please do let us know via DM and we will catch up.
🚨 After the Cass Review: free speech lessons from Tavistock and beyond
Join us on Tuesday 9th July, from 7:30pm in London and online — tickets at the link.
The people who exposed the medical scandal at the Tavistock and who've been vindicated by the
Thank you to everyone who has followed us so far, just over 250 in 24 hours! Can we get to 1000 by the end of the bank holiday weekend? Share far and wide and let's see if we can do it. Student members are already signing up!
Students, academics and fellow humans! Remember the 20th of May is International Academic Freedom Day! Have a look over
@AFAF_freespeech
and see what fantastic events are happening near you! Get involved and continue to fight for free speech on campus!
One of the reasons we launched
@StudentAFAF
was to voice our concern about the lack of critical thinking taught in HE and FE. We need to be taught how to think, not what to think. We need to engage in debate, challenging our own views as much as our peers.
#Students
A very good point from Ian here. As students, we pay our fees to learn but has the learning stopped and instead been replaced by activists in Universities? Are we being taught how to think or what to think?
At some point people will look back with some horror at the ways for a period universities were allowed to be hijacked by those who have no interest in genuine learning, just using them as vehicles for their own activism. And could try and insist on 're-education' programmes.
We should be shocked by this but we are not. This continues to be the teaching on many psychology courses.
@unisouthampton
are teaching this to doctoral clinical psych students. Any students experiencing this on their courses, please do get in touch.
🚨New Exposé🚨
I have been sent materials from a whistleblower at the University of Southampton (
@unisouthampton
), revealing that trainee psychologists working with children are being ideologically indoctrinated by former Tavistock clinicians.
Read here.
Students, a question: How many of your lecturers do you believe base their teaching on their own identities? Courses skewed towards one viewpoint because it fits the lecturer's identity? Reach out if so; we'd love to hear from you.
#Students
#edutwitter
Calling all Students, aged 18-30 who want to learn more about free speech. Living Freedoms summer school places are filling up fast! Take a look and apply, it's very straightforward.
CALLING *EVERYONE* AGED 18-30
Living Freedom Summer School 2024 takes place 11-13 July in London
If you've an appetite for
#freedom
#freespeech
#ideas
#debate
then this really is an event for you
Apply by June 3
MORE INFO
Irish Students we need you. We need you to fight the hate speech bill. We cannot have our free speech curtailed in this way. Get in touch and learn how we can push back.
#IrishStudents
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
#edutwitter
The resignation of Eamon Ryan, leader of the Irish Green Party, is welcome news — given that Green support has been crucial in moving the hate-speech bill through the country's parliamentary process, his decision to step down could be a critical moment.
We will always support free speech for students but this is not that, willful damage to property and businesses and blatant anti-antisemitism is not free speech. This is Amsterdam University!
@Fox_Claire
@WTSmith17
@jk_rowling
We would love to see Warren attend the Battle of Ideas Festival Claire. We think he would be a brilliant addition to the two days!
Powerful speech by
@KiszelyPhilip
. It's a war and we will win it. Excellent advice on what to do if you get cancelled and that includes Students. We are the voices that can protest for free speech in our universities. We must do so!
Proud of my mate
@KiszelyPhilip
doing his speech here . This is really powerful, he talks about being cancelled . We should be able to voice different viewpoints in a healthy democracy
Don't Divide Us was founded to pushback against the creeping influence of the 'diversity' agenda in our public and cultural institutions.
We are a volunteer, grassroots organisation. Please consider supporting us by signing up to our newsletter👇
"Swansea University has allowed a gender critical event to go ahead on campus, while publicly stating that such events have a “negative impact” on staff and students."
@ComAcFreedom
@JoPhoenix1
Prof. Dame Dandridge has been appointed to lead the review into the OU following the employment tribunal of
@JoPhoenix1
. We will be watching this one closely and providing updates when available.
🚨 Students! Calling all Students. The First International Academic Freedom Day is this month! Have a look at the AFAF site for all events taking place. Academic Freedom for all.
Excellent article here, very much worth a read. We believe it's for Universities to teach us not to parent us. We believe that Unis need to uphold free speech and academic freedom for all. Free Speech for all, after all. Thoughts?
"Universities have in recent years treated students as children who need to be cajoled, indulged and mollified," writes Yascha Mounk. "But when it comes to free speech, their rules are deeply inconsistent and the consequences for breaking them erratic."
Calling all students aged 18-30, Living Freedom's summer school is taking applications now. If you want to really understand free speech and academic freedom and why it's so important, this is a fantastic way to do so.
With safety increasingly the justification for curtailing free speech on campus, see
@Ella_M_Whelan
's lecture from 2023 on safetyism versus freedom
Find out more/apply for Summer School 2024 here -
This is an excellent thread. If you are a student of psychotherapy/psychology or counselling please read. Exploratory therapy is not conversion therapy. We need to support UKCP in their decision to withdraw from the MOU here.
Curious to know who is behind
@T_ACTT
? They're the therapists who have created the petition to remove the entire UKCP Board because the UKCP withdrew from the Memorandum of Understanding Against Conversion Therapy (MoU2) citing child safeguarding concerns.
We agree wholeheartedly with this request to all Universities. Stonewall and other such groups, Athena Swan for example are no longer fit for purpose. We already know of punishments being given to students for questioning EDI policies at their respective universities.
A singular approach seems unworkable given Cass &
@GOVUK
guidance. An attempt to find reasonable policies across
#HigherEducation
sector is essential.
Whilst crucial for academics & universities, it may be students who have to navigate these issues directly.
#AFAF
@StudentAFAF
Calling all
#Students
. Have you experienced barriers to your research, if so reach out to the below and submit your experience. This is vitally important to ensure free speech and academic freedom continue!
Have you faced any barriers to research on sex and gender?
If so, please submit your experience to the call for evidence.
We are looking for "ordinary" stories, not just dramatic ones.
Whilst we are pleased that Andy was able to speak at Trinity College Dublin, too many Universities cave to protest and use safety as an excuse. Become a member of SAFAF and actively work to ensure all Universities in the UK and Ireland uphold free speech and academic freedom
"This is the first time I've been able to speak in person at a university.” I reflected on the
@ADFIntl
co-organized free speech summit at Trinity College Dublin. My live events at universities in North America were shut down by Antifa threats of violence.
If you're a student in HE or FE and believe in free speech and academic freedom please give us a follow. If you like to become a member and help us promote student voices our details are on our pinned tweet
Please share widely!
#Students
#StudentAcademicsForAcademicFreedom
Safe to say that Athena Swan has very much lost sight of what it was established to do. Women in science, meh, we'd rather be inclusive to every Tom, Dick and Harry rather than promote women.
#Students
#womeninSTEM
The Athena Swan scheme was originally designed to promote women in science, before it decided to focus on "gender".
This is how Imperial College's institutional Athena Swan submission says they make women feel welcome.
We call on all Students who believe in free speech and academic freedom to stand up to
#cancelculture
on our campuses. University leaders must not capitulate to the few misinformed or willfully ignorant activist voices. Free Speech for all.
My God, this is devastating. An indictment of today's brand of
#cancelculture
campus mania, that allows reaon & civil discourse to be censored. Lack of courage amongst university leaders is shocking. Please listen. Thanks to
@glukianoff
for highlighting.
Excellent lecture series here from
@SpeechUnion
. As students we should be learning about how to critically think, not what to think. Has science lost its way?
🧵Videos of the two lectures in the FSU's 'Science, Scepticism and Free Speech series are now available on our YouTube channel! Lecture One, 'What is Science and Why Should We Care?', is by Professor Alan Sokal.
Our universities and associated organisations should take note too. When does DEI become virtue signalling and not actually of a benefit to Students and staff? Athena Swan for example? Good intentions gone bad 🤔
"Started with good intentions, but clearly vulnerable to politicisation." CEOs are now realising they didn’t quite think things through when first setting up their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, says Stonewall co-founder Simon Fanshawe.
We waited until this morning before marking down for bias by omission.
The BBC has had no shortage of interest in the EHRC over the downgrade investigation and the campaign to remove Kishwer Falkner.
Now that the activists have failed - nothing. >
@fawcettsociety
@JemimaOlchawski
@ameliagentleman
We find it hard to believe that in 2024 people are being censored for daring to say that ‘biological sex is real’. An elite men's club being forced to admit elite women is hardly the feminist win you think it is. Perhaps the time and resources could have been better utilized? 🤔
Interesting one this, citation laundering. Until you see it mapped out it's easy to miss how reliance on "evidence" actually ends up being not that at all. Marking your own homework one might say, or you scratch my back......
Thoughts?
SAFAF will be there, look out for one of our fabulous members who will be handing out bookmarks and cards with our details. Join us!
#StudentsForFreeSpeech
#edutwitter
Final prep completed for launch Living Freedom Summer School tonight!
Participants from around the world, brilliant speakers, and talks/debates on important topics of our times - from populism to protests, academic freedom to artist boycotts.
Keep an eye out here for more...
This is the hard part, should our HE and FE institutions be challenging us to think critically? We at SAFAF believe so and that this ability helps us to understand the importance of free speech.
#StudentsforFreeSpeech
#CriticalThinking
@AFAF_freespeech
You cannot just preach "critical thinking" to others if you are not prepared to reflect on your own thinking and how you got to wherever you got. This is the hard part.
We find it hard to believe that the once great Fawcett Society is focused on this issue rather than the issues which are affecting women today. Such as single sex service provisions. When a woman is considered anyone who identifies as one, are you really advocating for women?
@fawcettsociety
@JemimaOlchawski
@ameliagentleman
We find it hard to believe that in 2024 people are being censored for daring to say that ‘biological sex is real’. An elite men's club being forced to admit elite women is hardly the feminist win you think it is. Perhaps the time and resources could have been better utilized? 🤔
This is a very interesting interview, just a snippet here but when assisted euthanasia is used to deal with a failing system of care, where is our humanity?
'Euthanasia in Canada is becoming a solution to the problems of a failed social care and medical care system'
Actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr has been a vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade and spoke to
#BBCBreakfast
about a documentary she
@angijones
Some prominent people have valid personal reasons for staying silent. The ones I don’t forgive are those who became cheerleaders for organisations pushing puberty blockers & surgeries on the vulnerable, even as whistleblowers and reputable medics were raising the alarm.
On
#IAFD
(20/05) we will be handing out leaflets and discussing
#AcademicFreedom
on
@UniversityLeeds
campus.
*And*
Our fourth branch meeting will be next Thursday evening, 23rd May 5pm - 6pm in Parkinson SR (2.14).
Please come along to either/both events to help us promote
#AFAF
We are concerned that institutions are forgetting that by trying to signal they are being "inclusive", they are actually being exclusive to many. It appears that being gender critical at University is not one of the groups which needs support from
@UniversitiesUK
Dear
@UniversitiesUK
The "progress pride flag" in your profile pic represents the belief that gender identity is always more important than biological sex. Many LGB ppl & women feel that gender ideology is destroying our rights.
#NoPride
#SexNotGender
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong calls out Western Woke Culture.
“In the West they’ve got a movement called Wokeness where you are super sensitive about other peoples issues…it leads to very extreme attitudes.”
Video: CNA
Calling all Students, are you 18-30 and want to understand better the issues around academic freedom and how we can ensure free speech for all today and tomorrow. Then apply here for a place at the Living Freedom Summer School. A fantastic initiative from Living Freedom! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
LIVING FREEDOM SUMMER SCHOOL 2024
Are you 18-30? Care about free speech? Want to get to grips with the important issues surrounding freedom today?
Living Freedom is the place for you.
Get your application in before June 2nd:
You won't publish if you're not interested in the topic but there are some tips for increasing outputs.
1. Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. You can spend months spinning around with something hoping to make it perfect but there hits a point when it's good enough.
Please read this! We have seen this time and time again with journals such as the BMJ Open and the Psychologist. Continuing to turn away papers or opinions which they deem to be transphobic.
The editor of BMJ Open refused to publish a comment by Michael Biggs for reasons which do not reflect well on the academic integrity of the journal.
@ComAcFreedom
Listening to Coleman Hughes (
@coldxman
) reading his wonderful book, The End of Race Politics. Scarcely a sentence goes by without my wanting to burst into spontaneous applause. Martin Luther King would be applauding loudest of all. Please read it. With an open mind.
Calling all
#Students
. Come and join us in ensuring free speech and academic freedom is not lost in HE, for yourselves and students who will follow you.
Progressive activists today begin w/ their preferred policy outcomes or ideological conclusions & then try to force scientists & journalists to fall in line...Rather than challenging the progressive orthodoxy, science must serve as its handmaiden."
@AFAF_freespeech
@WomensRightsNet
@SpeechUnion
@acadofideas
@JoPhoenix1
We are always stunned that something which is so basic as the biology of sex, that sex is binary, is now seen as a controversial statement, almost considered to be hate speech. Our institutions are scared to state this as fact, letting down students completely.
Please join us in Swansea on 1 July to hear
@JoPhoenix1
@MForstater
@HJoyceGender
@akuareindorf
discussion Sex, Discrimination and the Equality Act (and a lot of other stuff besides). Bring your own questions for the panel. Men welcome!
This is a good step for sure, helping those from poorer backgrounds to access HE is key to ensuring a diverse range of voices in Universities. Work still needs to be done around cost of living for students, especially those from poorer backgrounds.