An Australian vice-chancellor has called for universities to adopt a sectoral position on free speech after her university cancelled a controversial address on safety grounds amid the threat of protests.

University of Western Australia head Dawn Freshwater said that the sector should emulate the University of Chicago in articulating . She has also called a meeting of her academic board to discuss what she terms a ¡°crisis of leadership¡± afflicting society.

¡°I personally, and as the vice-chancellor of this university, do not believe that censorship of opinion is the right way to solve issues,¡± she said. ¡°Universities are not places to endorse freedom of ignorance.¡±

On 16 August, the University of Western Australia cancelled an event scheduled by the ¨C which opposes same-sex marriage, transgenderism and ¡°permissive¡± abortion laws ¨C after earlier resolving to let it proceed.

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The event was to be headlined by Quentin Van Meter, an American endocrinologist who has treatment of gender dysphoria to ¡°child abuse¡±. The university stressed that it did not endorse these views, but originally said that denying the group access ¨C after learning that a campus venue had been booked by a University of Western Australia alumnus ¨C would ¡°create an undesirable precedent for the exclusion of objectionable views¡±.

The decision triggered social media uproar and plans to demonstrate. Medical student Thomas Drake-Brockman beseeched the university to change its mind. ¡°I expect my university to see this harmful, anti-science, anti-LGBT monstrosity for what it is,¡± he wrote in a .

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The university¡¯s academic union the students, saying that Dr Van Meter¡¯s organisation had been branded a ¡°hate group¡± by a . ¡°Intellectual freedom does not extend to speech that can harm people ¨C hate speech,¡± said acting National Tertiary Education Union branch president Sanna Peden. ¡°It is absolutely inappropriate for a public university, of all places, to promote a platform for these views.¡±

The booking was subsequently ¡°voided¡± over safety concerns after the event organisers failed to produce a risk management plan in line with venue hiring requirements.

Professor Freshwater said that activist groups, using oppression and ¡°silencing¡± to fight perceived oppression, were ¡°perpetuating the very behaviours and thinking that they are opposing¡±.

¡°The paradox is that they¡¯re doing that to get a message across about how offensive other people are,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s important for us not to succumb to threats of violence and the sort of fear that¡¯s instilled by not tolerating difference.¡±

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She said that there was a need to distinguish a fundamentalist state of mind from active fundamentalism. Terms such as ¡°hate speech¡± warranted critical evaluation rather than acquiescence to the ¡°dominant discourse of the censor¡±, she added.

The Chicago statement, which has been co-signed by dozens of universities, vetoes any restriction on debate of ideas considered ¡°offensive, unwise, immoral or wrong-headed¡±.

¡°It is for the members of the university community to make those judgments for themselves,¡± the document says. ¡°Faculty, students and staff are free to criticise, contest and condemn views [but] may not interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe.¡±

Professor Freshwater said that human advances had occurred in times of uncertainty. She said that an anxiety epidemic afflicting the Western world had created a need for feelings of certainty, ¡°which means curiosity and critical thinking take a back seat¡±.

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¡°We are in an environment in which curiosity and critical thinking are core. We have to think about how we¡¯re thinking, and do that in a very honest way.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com