England's Academic Freedom Tsar Clarifies Limits of Free Speech

Office for Students to launch free-to-use complaints scheme in August 2024

Arif Ahmed, England’s academic freedom tsar, has clarified that free speech laws won’t protect calls for genocide or speech that incites violence.
Ahmed, a former Cambridge University philosophy professor, is the first Office for Students (OfS) director overseeing free speech at universities.
The OfS is set to publish a consultation on its proposed free-to-use complaints scheme for students, staff and visiting speakers, as well as its approach to regulating students’ unions on free speech matters.
Under the proposed complaints scheme, individuals can complain to the OfS about a loss suffered because a university, college, or students’ union has not taken steps to secure their free speech within the law.
The complaints scheme will not launch until Aug 1, 2024, and the OfS plans to limit its review to complaints about matters that occurred on or after that date.