A free speech row has erupted at Durham University after its oldest student union was banned from attending this year’s freshers’ fair.
The Durham Union Society, the university’s 182-year-old debating society with more than 3,000 current and former students, has been banned from attending the university’s new members event day.
The Durham Students’ Union’s fusion fair on Wednesday welcomed hundreds of student societies and volunteer groups to set up stalls on campus, but the Durham Union Society was denied a place.
The student union said the debating society had not shown that it had improved its standards following a series of accusations of racism. It also said the Durham Union Society was independent of the university, meaning it had no formal obligations to it.
Like the unions at Oxford and Cambridge, the Durham Union Society was founded in 1842 as a university debating society.
Although it operates independently from the university and is open to staff and local residents, the membership is almost entirely made up of Durham students.
The registered charity hosts weekly events and talks, which are often advertised on the university’s website. Recent guests include former Conservative prime ministers Boris Johnson and Baroness May, as well as actors Jeremy Irons and Sir Patrick Stewart and the late actress Maggie Smith, according to the society’s website.
A free speech group has now accused Durham Students’ Union of “censorious behaviour”, claiming its decision to bar the Durham Union Society from freshers’ fairs was “because it’s not left-wing enough”.
In a letter to Professor Karen O’Brien, Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, The Free Speech Union claimed that the Durham Union Society had been “excluded from the most important recruitment event of the academic year”.
The group’s leader, Toby Young, suggested the move would breach the university’s statutory duty to protect free speech within the law for all members, students, staff and visiting speakers.
“In the current state of affairs, it is now up to the university to ensure that the situation is rectified,” he said.
The incident is the latest in a long-running dispute between Durham’s student union and the university’s debating club.
The student union has previously accused the Durham Union Society of allowing racism and misogyny, including in an incident last year where a student was allegedly racially abused.
The two organizations also signed an agreement last year, according to which future cooperation depends on how the debating society improves its achievements on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Durham Students’ Union told The Telegraph that the debating society “failed to keep its promise and for that reason alone (we) did not accept (the Durham Union Society’s) request to advertise at our Freshers Fair”.
The Freedom of Speech Association claimed that this was a red herring and that “the student union’s true attitude towards society can be inferred from the statements on its website”.
It referred to comments by the current president of the student union about his “unequivocal … distaste for the (Durham Union Society)” and criticism by another student union official that it hosted a “parliamentary debate of tuxedo-clad provocateurs”.
Mr Young suggested the controversy would have been prevented if the government had not pulled the plug on a major new free speech law aimed at preventing cultural destruction on campus.
Education Minister Bridget Phillipson suspended the introduction of the Higher Education (Freedom of Expression) Act just days before it came into effect. It would have required universities to actively promote free speech on campus and introduced a new appeals system for those who have been banned.
Mr Young said: “This censorious behavior by a militant student union, banning a 200-year-old debating society from a freshers’ fair because it is not left-wing enough, would not be possible if the Freedom of Speech Act was torpedoed by this government.
“This is a perfect example of the culture of cancellation that the law was meant to stop. Bridget Phillipson should reverse her decision and enforce the law.”
The Ministry of Education has requested a statement.
A Durham University spokesperson said: “Durham Students’ Union and the Durham Union Society are independent organizations with completely separate governance arrangements. The Freshers’ Fair is run and managed by Durham Students’ Union. It is the responsibility of Durham Students’ Union to explain any decisions to attend or not attend their Freshers’ Fair.”
The spokesman also said the university had offered the Durham Union Society an alternative venue on Wednesday to recruit new students and that “Durham University is committed to freedom of expression within the law”.
Durham Union Society said in a statement: “The university has a statutory duty to safeguard freedom of expression on campus and we are delighted that the Vice-Chancellor has offered us an alternative space to promote new students.
– We are working with the university to ensure a permanent solution to this situation, so that the student union will not be able to hinder our society in this hateful and capricious way in the coming years.
The Durham Student Union said in a statement that it “strongly believes in freedom of expression and has never and would never take any action to disadvantage any of its student groups based on legitimate beliefs, opinions, practices or ideas.”
It added: “There are no examples to the contrary. We work closely with Durham University every day to ensure students discover and share new ideas and experiences.
“We support more than 300 student groups with an amazing cultural, philosophical, political and religious diversity and who often disagree with each other and with the student union. We love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Durham Students’ Union does not disagree with the legitimate beliefs, opinions, policies or ideas of Durham Union Society. It (despite its name) is not a student association of Durham University or Durham Student Union. Trustees of Durham Union Society have never claimed any such disagreement. Free Speech Union has not observed such disagreement.
“As a gesture of goodwill, we welcomed it to our fusion fair in September 2023 in recognition of the importance of this promise to be better. But in September 2024 it informed us that it had not kept its promise and for this reason alone Durham SU did not accept DUS’s request to advertise at our fusion fair. This has openly been the terms of our contract with DUS for the past 12 months.”