Massey University is a craven example of an organisation whose commitment to freedom of speech is paper-thin. They have caved at the very first hint of opposition and have used the Thug’s Veto as an excuse for their abject cowardice.
Response to ‘Feminism 2020’ event
16 October 2019
Massey University has advised Speak Up For Women to find an alternative venue for its Feminism 2020 event. The University has received external advice on its health, safety and wellbeing obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and its duty of care to the University community, and has made the decision on these grounds.
The legal advice we have received is that cancellation of the event, as concluded by the report, is the only way to eliminate the risk to health and safety and to ensure that the University would not be in breach of its health and safety obligations.
Massey University is committed to the values of academic freedom, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of expression, as values that lie at the very heart of the tradition of a university and academic inquiry. However, this event has created significant disruption to our students, staff and University operations, and we cannot accept any further risk or issues, or any risk of potential harm that may impact upon a particularly vulnerable community.
What a load of horse feathers! Do they even know what commitment means? If the university was a woman who said that she was committed to her marriage and freedom of speech was her husband, then they would be filing for divorce in the first week because the husband lost his job.
This is completely disgraceful and is a chilling taste of what the future holds if our key political parties do not stand up strongly for freedom of speech. At the moment the only organisation fighting the good fight is the Free Speech Coalition.