Cambridge University Free Speech Society✓

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT CUFSS are delighted to welcome Drs Anna Loutfi and Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert from Don't Divide Us, a grassroots movement that contests the view that the UK is systemically racist and instead advocates for "colourblind anti-racism". Our speakers recently co-authored a report for the Prosperity Institute, 'Some More Equal Than Others', as well as a Don't Divide Us report, 'The Equality Act Isn't Working', making their case against the Equality Act. In this event, Anna and Alka will explore the philosophical and legal case for repealing the EA in its entirety, challenging not merely its practical consequences but the underlying principle of state-enforced equality. The event will consider how equality legislation has undermined common law principles and created new restrictions on individual liberties, and why imposing positive duties in this area is problematic. Join us for a provocative discussion about one of the defining assumptions of modern British law, and the case for a radically different approach to equality and freedom. 🗓 Thursday 29th October 🕒 19:30 📍 central Cambridge location to be announced to ticket holders 🔉 Our speakers: Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert is an educator, academic, author, and campaigner. She is the Director of Don't Divide Us, author of numerous specialist texts on education, and co-editor of What Should Schools Teach? Disciplines, Subjects, and the Pursuit of Truth. She has spoken at numerous prestigious conferences and gave evidence to the 2016 All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry (APPGI) on Knowledge and Skills in Education. Dr Anna Loutfi is a specialist employment and equality barrister practising from 4-5 Gray's Inn Square in London. She was called to the Bar in 2019 and is regularly instructed in employment law matters including discrimination, whistleblowing, unfair dismissal and related workplace disputes. She has extensive experience in equality and human rights law, free speech, and disability law.

TICKETS LINKED BELOW 🎟 No CUFSS membership required - although it does give you a discount on tickets! Open to members of the public as well as University students and faculty.

Michaelmas Term Card 🎟️❄️  The Cambridge University Free Speech Society Michaelmas term card all in one place for your perusal! We're delighted to be hosting talks and Q&As on a wide range of thought-provoking topics, given by a selection of incredible speakers. We are also excited for November to bring the first Symposium sessions, encouraging collaborative exploration of the ideas underpinning politics today. Look out for ticket announcements as speaker events get closer; these events are open to members of the public as well as CUFSS members, although membership will get you a discounted price (of an already accessibly cheap ticket!). We hope to see you this Michaelmas ❄️

RT @cufreespeechsoc: Prospectus A short 10-page introduction to the society: who we are, what we believe, what activities we run and what we want to achieve. Michaelmas Termcard What we have planned for this coming term. Short Introduction A condensed version of our prospectus designed for a quicker read.

📣🕯📖 Introducing the CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY FREE SPEECH SOCIETY When we arrived at Cambridge University last year, we expected to find a place built around the pursuit of truth: where ideas could be freely raised, tested, and challenged. Cambridge ought to be a bastion of critical thinking, but in practice, that principle has been eroded. Speakers are no-platformed or quietly uninvited. Students self-censor in supervisions and exams as well as social settings – not because they lack a view, but because they have learned that the wrong view carries social cost. Too often, ideas are not tested by argument and challenge, but are left to stagnate in closed-minded consensus. We think this is a serious failure of the University’s basic function and mission. It is against this backdrop that we are founding the Cambridge University Free Speech Society. We firmly hold the belief that the only reliable way to sort good ideas from bad ones is to let them compete in the open: to state them clearly, subject them to scrutiny, defend them under pressure, and revise or abandon them when they fail to hold up. The society will run across a few main formats: Speaker events with open Q&A – bringing in speakers with a range of views and perspectives from across the political and academic spectrum, and giving students and the public the chance to question and challenge them directly. Student debates – opportunities for members to argue positions, including ones they may not personally hold, and to sharpen their own thinking and public speaking skills in the process. The Symposium – a fortnightly reading group dedicated to understanding the ideas underpinning the present historical moment. Join us! If you think a university should be a place where you can think out loud, question received wisdom, argue your case, and disagree openly without being cast out for it, we’d love you to join us. All we ask of you is the willingness to contest ideas in good faith and the humility to be contested in return. Details of our first event to follow shortly! In the meantime, follow us here on X at @cufreespeechsoc, on Instagram at @cufreespeechsociety, and feel free to get in touch at committee@cufss.org or through our website We are deeply grateful to the Ian Mactaggart Programme for its support. Administered by the Free Speech Union, the Ian Mactaggart Programme was established to foster a culture of open debate, independent thinking and free expression among young people in the UK, especially students.