Badge for 'decolonising' universities risks undermining free speech, warns watchdog chief

An anti-racism badge which rewards “decolonising” the curriculum and cracking down on “micro-aggressions” risks eroding free speech, the university watchdog chief has said.

Lord Wharton, chair of the Office for Students, warned that some campaigns run by the organisation Advance HE “could undermine free speech and interfere with academic freedom”.

His remarks come in the wake of a Telegraph investigation into Advance HE's Race Equality Charter (REC), which is handed to universities to recognise their work in tackling racism on campus.

Advance HE publishes advice on how to eliminate racism on campus, which includes stamping out racial “micro-aggressions” such as “avoiding eye-contact” with someone from an ethnic minority group or interrupting someone during a meeting.

Other examples include cutting in front of someone in a queue or “invading” someone’s personal space.

'Concerning signs of potential overreach'

Lord Wharton said: “Work to improve access and reduce discrimination is important but there are concerning signs of potential overreach here.”

He added that the OfS does not fund any activity aimed at “decolonising” the curriculum, adding that “it is for universities to determine what they should teach and study provided it meets accepted standards”.

The Telegraph revealed last week that MPs have demanded that taxpayer funding of Advance HE should be suspended and an investigation launched into them.

Over a dozen Tories wrote to Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, to say that the Advance HE’s practices - such as rewarding universities for “decolonising” their curriculum and for rolling out unconscious bias training - further an agenda which “compromises academic freedom and free speech”.

The MPs say they believe the funding of Advance HE appears to be a “significant waste of public money”.

£11m of taxpayer funding since 2016

Advance HE has received over £11 million of taxpayer funding since 2016, according to Companies House records. It has also been paid over £27 million from membership fees paid to it by universities and colleges, which are themselves partly funded by the taxpayer.

Over 60 of the country’s leading higher education institutions - including Oxford, Cambridge and the majority of members of the prestigious Russell Group - have signed up to the REC.

Advance HE runs training for universities on how to “decolonise” their identity, curriculum and the entire institution.

Another of its manuals advises institutions on how to tackle white privilege and identifies the concept of “white sanction” where “white people are the gamekeepers who use their privilege to ‘help’ people of colour”.

Academics have previously warned that the REC is shaping a culture on campus that is “inimical” to academic freedom.

Over half of British universities have anonymous reporting tools

Meanwhile, a new report by the think-tank Civitas found that more than half of British universities have some form of anonymous reporting tools which could lead to lecturers and students being disciplined for committing “micro-aggressions”.

Researchers argue that an “over-reliance” on external organisations to run diversity training combined with a growing “grievance industrial complex” has exacerbated intolerance on campuses in recent years.

Alison Johns, chief executive of Advance HE, said the REC helps universities to close the gap in outcomes between black and white students, adding: “It’s a framework through which each participating institution can work to identify and self-reflect on its own institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of BAME staff and students.

“Created with the higher education sector in 2015, the REC is a well-established framework through which institutions can develop their own plans to create inclusive teaching and research environments and tackle racism. We support and applaud their efforts to do so.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Universities are independent and autonomous bodies and should feel confident enough to proactively address important issues such as racism within their institutions internally and in line with existing legal duties.”