On 21 May 2025, the third Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogues grappled with the question ‘Free Speech: where do we draw the line?’ This event is part of a series of dialogues which encourage ‘disagreeing well’ and explore different perspectives on some of the most difficult issues of our time.

Many are worried that there is a free-speech crisis where legitimate debate has been eroded over recent years. They argue that instead of being able to discuss unpopular opinions, those who hold them are cancelled. Certain topics are no-go zones. Speakers are no-platformed. 

But others say that this so-called crisis is a fiction. Speech has never been fully free. There have always been inequalities in who gets to speak and be heard. They argue that we are simply seeing a redistribution of power where privileged groups are being challenged and held to account by those who have historically been marginalised. 

Most agree that speech needs some limits but where do we draw the line? When does free speech become hate speech? Are truth and accuracy important - or even relevant to free speech? And how does social media help or hinder free speech?

These are some of the questions and perspectives passionately discussed in the latest Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogues, which took place in front of a packed lecture theatre filled with students, staff, and alumni.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice opened the event by explaining the purpose of these dialogues. 

“First, they put people with seriously conflicting opinions in conversation with each other and encourage them to disagree well – in a way that sheds light, as well as heat. These are the sorts of conversations that sometimes happen at the University of Cambridge, where nothing within the law is taboo, and freedom of speech and thought and academic debate matter profoundly."

"You may find some of the views expressed tonight personally distasteful, but I firmly believe it is better to hear them than to shut them down. We have the right to disagree but not the right to insist that only our view must prevail."

The second purpose of the dialogues, she explained, is to explore how people who are seemingly far apart in their beliefs can find common ground. "If we are to make progress in legislation or understanding the world in which we live, we need to be able to identify where we agree as well as where we disagree.” 

Speakers:

• Kehinde Andrews is the UK’s first Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University where he led the establishment of the first Black Studies programme in Europe. He is an activist and author whose books include The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World and Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century.
  
• Fara Dabhoiwala is a Senior Research Scholar of History at Princeton University, and is currently a Visiting Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge. His new book What is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea explores where our modern ideals of free expression come from, why we can never agree about them, and how we might think more constructively about free speech in the present.
  
• Lionel Shriver is a bestselling author whose novels include the Orange-Prize winner We Need to Talk About Kevin. Her most recent novel Mania, explores the policing of free speech and asks, ‘what if calling someone stupid was illegal?’ She is a prolific journalist with a regular column in The Spectator and has written for publications including the New York Times, the Financial Times and Harper’s Magazine.
  
• Joseph Webster is Professor of the Anthropology of Religion at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Downing College. He is author of The Religion of Orange Politics, where his fieldwork among Rangers Football Club fans sparked a research interest in free speech. His work played a key role in repealing the Scottish Parliament’s controversial Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, which banned certain football chants and aimed to curb sectarianism in Scottish football.

The discussion was chaired by Mary Hockaday, Master of Trinity Hall and former journalist whose roles included Controller of BBC World Service English and Head of the BBC Newsroom.

This event was part of the Vice-Chancellor's Dialogues series. Previous discussions have grappled with the questions 'Is democracy dying?' and 'Is assisted dying compassionate or dangerous for society?'

Published 5 June 2025

^{Images: Lloyd Mann}

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