The government is considering forcing universities to protect free speech after student unions banned events, including several organised by pro-life societies.
The Times reported that Jo Johnson, the minister for higher education, has written to all universities in Britain reminding them they have a “legal duty” to protect freedom of speech.
Mr Johnson said that university premises must not be “denied to any individual or body on any grounds connected with their beliefs or views, policy or objective”.
The Education (Number 2) Act 1986 already obliges universities to protect freedom of speech, and to have a code of practice detailing their policy. Mr Johnson said that such documents must not be neglected, since they demonstrate to students “that free speech should be at the heart of a higher education community”.
He added: “It is important to note that the duty extends to both the premises of the university and premises occupied by the students’ unions, even when they are not part of the university premises.” Mr Johnson said this duty could be cemented by making universities “include a principle about freedom of speech principles in their governance documents”. The Government may have the power to make universities include such a principle under “public interest”. Mr Johnson said the Government would launch a consultation on this possibility.
The Free Speech University Rankings, assembled by the magazine Spiked, have detailed a rise in censorship on university campuses. Pro-life societies have been among the main targets of censorship. Most recently, groups at Cardiff, Strathclyde and Newcastle have had to fight against proposed bans.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols said Catholics must resist “retaliation and hatred”, as he celebrated Mass on Sunday for the victims of the Westminster terror attack.
The cardinal, in his homily at Westminster Cathedral, quoted from Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd”, and its reference to a “valley of darkness”.
“We know this experience. It’s very immediate and very painful for some today. Sometimes the darkness just creeps up on us. Sometimes we can be suddenly plunged into darkness and the sun goes out. Its light and its sparkle seem lost,” the Archbishop of Westminster said.
“In these moments we remember the words: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want,’ because he has prepared a banquet for me there at the end of this pilgrimage.”
The cardinal also quoted the words of St Paul: “Be like children of the light” and “Have nothing to do with the futile works of darkness.” He added: “Have nothing to do with talk of hatred or retaliation. Have nothing to do with bitterness, or scorn, or mockery, or gossip, or all that undermines who we are individually and together as children of a common Father.”
Two days earlier the cardinal had joined the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Rabbi and two imams – Sunni Sheikh Khalifa Ezzat and Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli, representing Shia Muslims – outside Westminster Abbey for a minute of silence in tribute to the victims of the attack.
He said at the event that he had received a message from Pope Francis “in which he assured this country of his prayers for our future, for our wellbeing and for our peace”.
In the message Francis expressed his “prayerful solidarity” with all those affected. He commended those who had died “to the loving mercy of Almighty God” and invoked “divine strength and peace upon their grieving families”.
Cardinal Nichols, in the immediate wake of the attack, urged Catholics: “Let our voice be one of prayer, of compassionate solidarity, and of calm.”
On the same day, three prayer services were held in Parliament’s Chapel of St Mary Undercroft for those killed and injured.
Fr Pat Browne, the Catholic chaplain to Parliament, said: “There were lots of tears. There were a lot of staff there, Members of Parliament, peers. People were very shaken. For some it was the first time they could sit down and reflect on what had happened. They didn’t feel, until they got home last night, what had really happened,” he said. “They are very shaken people.”
The services were conducted by Fr Browne and the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Speaker’s chaplain and an Anglican. At the Mass in Westminster Cathedral Cardinal Nichols said, as it was the Fourth Sunday of Lent, “We move a step closer to Holy Week and to Easter. In Holy Week we stand face to face with the darkness of betrayal, of suffering, and of death. We stand face to face with the emptiness of mourning before the tomb. And we stand face to face with the astonishing gift of new life in the glory of the Resurrection.
“In many different ways, some small, some tragically all-consuming, we live this mystery, each of us in our own lives.”
Catholic homeless charities have welcomed a new law obliging councils to step in and help people who are threatened with losing their home within 56 days.
Keith Furnett, chief executive of Caritas Anchor House, called it “the most significant reform to homelessness legislation in England for 40 years”.
“Its passage,” he added, “means that those experiencing or at risk of homelessness will finally receive the support they need.”
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