- Conference
- 2022 Virtual Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 14 October 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2021, currently going through the Westminster Parliament, proposes new laws that the government has said are needed to “safeguard” free speech and academic freedom in universities. The bill would mean higher education providers – and student unions – will have a duty to “actively promote” freedom of speech, including making venues available to groups or speakers regardless of beliefs.
Universities will be fined by the Office for Students if they fail to uphold legal responsibilities to free speech on campus and individuals will be able to seek compensation from higher education institutions and student unions which they believe have breached their legal duties to facilitate free speech. The Department for Education has estimated the cost of the new legislation to universities and student unions as £48.1 million over the next decade.
Conference notes the Bill has been introduced following a number of ‘de-platforming’ incidents in recent years given a high profile in the media, and that some of these have related to debates around gender and speakers who are involved in campaigns to roll back the existing rights of trans people.
Conference further notes that Labour is opposing the Bill and moved an amendment at second reading in the House of Commons aimed at stopping the bill from progressing further, which stated “the bill is a hate speech protection bill which could provide legal protection and financial recompense to those seeking to engage in harmful and dangerous speech on university campuses, including Holocaust denial, racism and anti-vaccination messages.”
Conference is therefore concerned that this legislation may lead to an increase in hate speech and the expression of offensive, abusive, or discriminatory views in universities.
Conference recalls the motion “Transgender Equality in Higher Education Institutions” carried by our 2020 conference, which noted that there was strong evidence that workplace discrimination remained all too common in universities. The motion also supported the call from the Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry into Transgender Equality (2016) for all higher education institutions (HEIs) to take proactive steps to promote trans equality, including providing staff with gender identity training and a trans champions scheme.
Conference recognises that the many barriers to challenging discriminatory behaviour often stem from a lack of information, education, support and firm policies in workplaces, and that it is essential that there are workplace allies for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT+) identities. It welcomes the development of a new UNISON LGBT+ Allies training programme, aimed at giving non-LGBT+ members the opportunity to explore what it means to be an ally and to identify ways of creating an inclusive working environment for everyone.
Conference therefore calls on the Higher Education Service Group Executive, working in liaison with the national LGBT+ committee as appropriate, to:
1)Encourage the negotiation of inclusive language in higher education agreements and policies, and of inclusive practices and procedures, across our higher education workplaces
2)Urge all higher education branches to use the UNISON trans equality guide and model policy, along with the LGBT+ bargaining factsheets and guide to non-binary inclusion, to review employer policies and agreements with employers with a view to achieving best practice
3)Urge branches where employers have no trans equality policy to seek to negotiate the adoption of UNISON’s model policy
4)Raise trans equality with employers and employer bodies and seek reviews of relevant equality guidance, in line with UNISON best practice
5)Continue to gather and publicise good practice examples from branches organising in the service group of inclusive employer policies and practices, including in record-keeping, language, any dress codes and in the provision of safe and accessible gender neutral facilities.
6)Promote the guide to being to be a good trans ally, and the new LGBT+ ally training programme, across the service group
7)Continue to promote the call from the Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry into Transgender Equality for all higher education institutions to take proactive steps to promote trans equality including providing all staff with gender identity training and a trans champions scheme.