Student Services and free speech – notes and questions to prompt team discussions

Today, at Plinth House, we have published a set of notes about the ways in which the work of Student Services teams impacts on free speech issues in higher education. Feedback is welcome from colleagues across the sector. What do you agree or disagree with? What have we missed? Where might more advice, guidance, or training be helpful to you or your team? We have opened a questionnaire to enable you to share your views.

Student Services teams and free speech issues - Plinth House.pdf

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Recent discussions with higher education providers (HEPs) following the Office for Students investigation into the University of Sussex, and our involvement in higher education networks more broadly, have highlighted the crucial role of Student Services teams in protecting free speech. But they also highlight to us that the role of Student Services in this regard can sometimes be downplayed.

We also sense a common misconception that Student Services teams tend mainly to impact directly on free speech issues in very specific contexts, such as event approvals (Prevent-related) processes. In reality, the free speech impact of Student Services teams is, we believe, much broader and more vital than this.

Student Services teams work on the front lines, providing specialist support to students, including students who raise speech concerns or whose actions may be causing free speech-related difficulties for others. Student Services teams shape pastoral support across our institutions and often advise other parts of our institutions on free speech issues. And, of course, Student Services teams are themselves made up of staff members who have their own rights to free speech, both at work and beyond.

In our document, which you can download here, we map out some of the ways in which free speech issues intersect with the work of Student Services. While our notes focus on sex and gender issues, picking up on the focus of the OfS investigation, the issues raised also apply to broader identity politics and other political issues.

Our document is designed to spark discussion within Student Services teams. We encourage management and staff teams to select a few questions from this document for discussion to explore where there is already confidence and identify where more guidance, training, or support are needed.

We want to hear from you

If you work at any level within Student Services, we want to hear from you about the free speech-related areas in which you already feel confident and those areas where you feel you or your team might benefit from more support. We welcome you sharing your thoughts and suggestions using the questionnaire below.