OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
With the UK’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act put on hold by the new government over the summer, and both pro-Palestine activists and ‘cancelled’ conservatives frequently claiming that their freedom has been infringed, academic freedom is making headlines.
Dr Eric Kaufmann, Director of Buckingham University’s Centre for Heterodox Social Science, has co-authored an influential report arguing that a “hostile climate” is chilling academic freedom in Britain.
His new (2024) book, ‘Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced A Cultural Revolution’, takes a critical look at so-called ‘woke’ culture, arguing that an emerging climate of “progressive extremism” is producing pervasive “concept creep” as liberal ideas of freedom and equality are reinterpreted to justify restricting negative liberties such as freedom of speech, assembly, and religion.
Kaufmann’s controversial but nuanced analysis of academic freedom is grounded in decades spent studying cultural politics and a wealth of empirical data. Join us to challenge, and be challenged.
Details of the event venue will be provided on registration.
