China Offended: A New Free Speech Scandal Brewing

Jordan Williams
Free Speech Coalition

There have been attacks on free speech in our universities for the past two years. Massey University banned Dr Don Brash from speaking at a student politics society event, Massey cancelled Speak Up for Women’s Feminism 2020 event, and Auckland University of Technology cancelled a student commemorative protest in honour of the Tiananmen Square Massacre caving to pressure form the Chinese embassy. The list goes on.

Most recently, some academics and universities have complained to the University of Canterbury about Professor Anne-Marie Brady‘s Parliamentary select committee submission on Chinese exploitation of NZ academic research links.

Canterbury University should have bluntly reminded the complaining universities that normal academic discipline and correction is by debate and counter-publication. It could have steered the complaining universities to their right to have a balancing statement added in Hansard (the Parliamentary record) or better yet, make their own submissions to the select committee.

Instead, they’ve launched a “review process” — which looks a lot like a fishing expedition with Prof Brady as the target.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been filing official information requests with the University of Canterbury and the others. We asked for information to tell us why academics offended by research findings that question collaboration with a dangerous regime, might get their critics investigated and disciplined, instead of being expected to publish their rebuttals as per academic tradition.

It is not known if the complaining Universities have said what they want the employer University (Canturbury) to do. Professor Brady has declined to talk about the affair, because her University has ordered her to stay silent. To us, that seems weird, because Canterbury has itself fed a media inquiry with statements that do nothing to defend the integrity of her work.

The University claims to take seriously the academic role as critic and conscience of society. Why has it imposed secrecy instead of telling the complainants to make their points against Prof Brady’s work public? If there are false claims about individuals, that is what defamation law is for – do what everyone else has to do to protect reputations.

The affair gets much more serious if she has been gagged, with threats to her livelihood and career if she disobeys. Perhaps it should not be a surprise in the new Orwellian world of academic appeasement if the university has chilling new gagging police under the guise of an Academic Freedom policy.

We are pleased to see that many academics have stood up in solidarity. An open letter has been written with over 100 signatures from academics around the world calling for Canterbury to do the right thing – end this ridiculous suppressing of academic freedom.

We think that in the end Canterbury will decide to uphold academic freedom. But by not sending the complainants packing without a moment’s hesitation, they’ve reinforced cancel-culture. Massey University has never tried to remedy the chilling climate created with its tactics to silence students seeking to use their free speech rights to hear controversial speakers, like a former Reserve Bank governor, and leader of the National Party.

With spreading inversion of academic freedom, people who care to defend free speech should not add to the resources of the people who now control Universities in Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North and Christchurch.

The best way to fight back: Alumni donations

If you are an alumnus of a New Zealand university, tell them what you think. If you are a donor, make it clear to them that they will not get any more from you until they stand up for free speech and academic freedom. For those concerned to support higher education, we recommend finding individual academics to sponsor.

Do not give another cent to the Universities that are perverting the noble traditions they inherited.

Over the coming months, the Free Speech Coalition will be working to encourage supporters to redirect support from universities that fail to denounce this cowardly cancel culture process: Auckland University, Victoria University of Wellington, and the University of Canterbury.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a criticism of China. The Brady reports shows China doing what any world power would do. Taking what they can from collaboration – often of mutual benefit. Great powers have always found members of foreign elites and bureaucratic process to erode their country’s values.