Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill
As universities minister, I experienced first hand the battle for freedom of speech on our campuses. I gave speeches against a background of barracking and noisy protest. I was shouted down trying to deliver a lecture at Cambridge—one of the saddest days of my time as minister. But then I think of what happened during a visit to the University of Southampton. There was a group of students and academics with a megaphone shouting their criticisms of my university policies. I always tried to speak to the protesters if possible, so I went over and attempted to engage with their criticisms. They lent me their megaphone to hear what I was saying. I then handed it back and we had a real exchange. That moment, in the most unpropitious of circumstances, stays with me as the embodiment of what the university really stands for.