The previous government banged on about suppression of free speech on campus – it appears most students aren’t bothered

There were questions on student’s perceptions of freedom of expression on their campus in the 2021 Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching survey (CMM yesterday).

The QILT report concludes most aren’t bothered, with an overall 87 per cent positive among undergrads for overall freedom of expression. Strong scores are consistent across age and gender, stage of course, location  of campus, and a bunch of other characteristics

But there’s a not-great statistic

The survey also asked respondents if they agreed they are “free from discrimination, harm or hatred” and the specific positive to that ranged from 79 per cent to 83 per cent, across UGs and coursework PGs, commencing study or in later years.

The negative numbers are less bad than they look – the responses included disagrees, plus neither agree or disagree. Here’s hoping there are a lot of no responses. For up to 20 per cent of students to not feel free from “discrimination, harm or hatred” would be alarming indeed.