1. Freedom of speech and academic freedom are central tenets of university life.
2. The University of Oxford seeks to protect robustly civic and academic freedoms and to foster an academic culture of openness and inclusivity, in which members of our community engage with each other, and the public, in debate and discussion, and remain open to both intellectual challenge and change.
3. The legal duty of UK universities to protect free speech is enshrined in legislation, including the Education (No 2) Act 1986 and the Human Rights Act 1998 and academic freedom is protected by the Education Reform Act 1988. Section 43 of the Education (No 2) Act 1986 specifically requires universities to:
(a) ‘take such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for members, students and employees of the establishment and for visiting speakers’;
(b) ‘ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, that the use of any premises of the establishment is not denied to any individual or body of persons on any ground connected with
a. the beliefs or views of that individual or of any member of that body; or
b. the policy or objectives of that body.’; and
(c) issue and keep up to date a code of practice for meetings and events.
4. The central importance of freedom of speech and academic freedom in a university underlies this Code.