‘Free speech’ meeting group charged £1,600 by Cardiff University

Martin Shipton

A group of academics who invited a right wing professor of politics to speak at a meeting last month are unhappy that they were charged a total of more than £1,600 to cover security for the event.

The recently formed Cardiff Academic Freedom Association (CAFA) asked Professor Eric Kaufmann of the University of Buckingham to participate in a debate with other professors.

But when left wing groups including Black Lives Matter announced their intention to organise a protest because of Prof Kaufmann’s involvement, the university insisted that stringent security measures were necessary and that CAFA should meet the cost.

Prof Kaufmann has been accused of being a “genocide apologist” in the contest of Israel’s war on Palestine.

He maintains that such a view misinterprets his position. In a post to X he stated: “A number of things can be true at once: 1) Hamas are violent terrorists; 2) many Palestinians support Hamas for tribal reasons, against their interests; 3) Israel has the right to defend itself, but; 4) Israel is committing atrocities & must rise above to end spiral of violence.”

Islam

Much of Prof Kaufmann’s research has focussed on the resurgence of religion in western societies, especially Islam. He has argued that the higher birth rates of Muslims have fuelled a populist backlash that led, for example, to the Brexit referendum vote in 2015.

In the event, Prof Kauffman did not come to Cardiff University for unrelated reasons, but CAFA still had to pay the security bill of £1341.12 on top of room hire at £300.

CAFA has published a statement on its website stating that it held its inaugural public event, featuring Professor CAFA Nigel Biggar (Oxford), Professor Naomi Waltham-Smith (Oxford) and Professor Jo Phoenix (Reading). Prof Phoenix is a gender-critical academic who won an unfair dismissal claim against the Open University.

The statement continues: “This was extremely successful. Our ideologically diverse panel engaged in sophisticated and civil discussion of challenges to academic freedom, thoughtful questions from our audience helping them.

“Yet holding this event was more challenging than it should have been. Cardiff University is a great place to work, very committed to academic freedom and, over the years, has hosted crucial debates. CAFA doesn’t seek conflict with the university. It’s quite the opposite; we seek dialogue.

“However, we were surprised that the university declined to finance the cost of room hire and security for our event. According to the university, CAFA is an external organisation and ineligible for such funding.

“But we understand that Cardiff University meets such costs for several organisations which are external to the university, yet comprise university staff. Examples include the meetings of staff associations and learned societies.

“The decision not to meet security costs was particularly questionable. Professor Phoenix has been the victim of sustained harassment and threats and, this year, a tribunal ruled that her previous employer, the Open University, discriminated against her. CAFA members have been the subject of extreme threats. These followed a 2021 letter suggesting that Cardiff University leave Stonewall and came from within the university. Indeed, the university decided that our event required the presence of eight security guards.

“This lies in tension with the new English Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which isn’t applicable to Wales. Beyond costs, the university presented us with excessive paperwork and some officials gave the impression that they regarded the event as a nuisance.

“We thank the Free Speech Union for meeting the charge of more than £1,600. Without them, the event wouldn’t have been possible.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Other universities adopt very different stances. For example, Professor Phoenix’s Vice Chancellor at the University of Reading, Robert van de Noort, has spoken at events with her.

“Next year, we shall hold another public event. Aside from meeting our costs, we hope that senior management will join us at the event.”

‘Disproportionately high’

A spokesperson for the Cardiff Academic Freedom Association told Nation.Cymru: “For the second year running, Cardiff University imposed a disproportionately high charge for room hire and security. We are disappointed with this decision. As far as we are aware, this is not common practice in British universities and, in our opinion, it does not help advance academic freedom at Cardiff University.”

A Cardiff University spokesperson responded: “CAFA is strictly independent of the university. It is not affiliated to the university. This is confirmed on their website. Therefore, any request to book a room at the university for a CAFA event would be managed by the university’s Conferencing and Events team as it will be considered as an external event not as an internal university event.

“The university Conferencing & Events team discuss costs, invoicing, organisation, logistics and will liaise with other university teams such as Compliance & Risk, Campus Security, Room bookings as to the specific requirements required to run the event. This is done in accordance with our Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech and our Event & External Speaker Policy.

“The speakers, organisation and management of the event – including any associated costs like additional security – would be for CAFA to manage. This was made clear to CAFA on both occasions they’ve held speaking events at the university. CAFA agreed to abide by the expected standards of conduct set out in our code of practice and meet all the associated costs.

“The University will not unreasonably refuse to allow events unless a conflicting legal provision is identified as a reason to refuse or restrict an event. In line with our commitment to freedom of speech we have a duty to enable challenging issues to be discussed provided it’s done within the law, and with respect and tolerance.”