In The Times 10 February 2020 Letter to the Editor, Nigel Biggar challenged his readers, and Education Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson, ‘to dispel the climate of self-censorship and inner exile’ and to champion moral and political viewpoint diversity in Universities. 

Editor of The Article Daniel Johnson offered a response to Biggar (read his ‘Universities need more intellectual and political diversity, as well as in class and race’ here). In it he suggests that the time may now be for Biggar to be given a more significant public platform to advocate for an “atmosphere of openness in which the entire community of established professors, younger scholars and undergraduates can run along with one another regardless of politics.” For Johnson, and in step with Biggar, the University should be a place where critical acumen is demonstrated while dissent is not only tolerated but also cultivated. 

You can read Nigel Biggar’s ‘University Challenge’ Letter to the Editor below: