Discussion

In your essay, you are asked to discuss the issue of free speech on university campuses in the UK based on Brendan O’Neil’s speech, “Freedom of Speech and Right to Offend”, but also referring to Malia Bouattia’s interview and another internet source.

First of all, you should note why free speech on university campuses has become an issue for debate. As both “Freedom of Speech and Right to Offend” and “Why we need safe spaces on campus” suggest, the subject has become a matter of debate after some measures have been introduced in the academia, mostly by student unions: no-platforms and safe spaces.

What these initiatives try to do is protect certain groups which are deemed vulnerable (women, minority racial groups, etc.) from being the target of oppression by creating platforms (virtual and physical) from which potential oppressors are excluded.

Other examples of such measures are also available in the article “Free speech? Not at four in five UK universities” such as a dress code which is meant to be non-discriminatory, but also boycotting events. In generally, these measures are meant to reduce discrimination and avoid students feeling offended and criticised because of who they are as individuals.

However, such initiatives have also come to be regarded as limiting free speech in universities because they exclude people’s right to offend for fear that they might hurt people’s feelings through their opinions.

Brendan O’Neil argues against such protective measures, claiming that they help neither freedom of speech nor the protected groups. For him, freedom of speech necessarily c...