In his final annual address at the Senate House earlier this week, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, defended the value of the freedom of expression against attempts to curtail it for the good of students.

The Vice-Chancellor argued that “we must resist the notion that universities are places where the right not to be offended takes precedence over freedom of expression.”

He continued, adding that “the best way to fight bad ideas is by deploying better ones,” and while he assured students that Cambridge was “a place where the students and staff can expect to be safe from harm”, they should “also be expected to be challenged intellectually.”

Borysiewicz contended that “[t]he freedom to express opinions, however distasteful some may find them, is the bedrock upon which we build this community of scholars.” The Vice-Chancellor’s language on the freedom of expression strikes a contrast with the so-called ‘safe space’ policies adopted by CUSU and other campaigns and societies, which provides for environments in which opinions and speech that is perceived to be hateful is not permitted.

His views chime with those of the man who will succeed him next year, Stephen Toope, who has argued that “for a university, anything that detracts from the free expression of ideas is just not acceptable”.

Earlier this year, a survey by online magazine Spiked found that “[t]he University of Cambridge and the Cambridge University Students’ Union collectively create a chilling environment for free speech”.

It cited the decision to drop the University’s ‘Dear World… Yours, Cambridge’ promotional video featuring historian David Starkey, following claims that he was “aggressively racist”, in its decision to rank the University of Cambridge ‘amber’ on a traffic light scale to measure what it termed the “epidemic” of “campus censorship.”

However, CUSU President Amatey Doku told Varsity that the Vice-Chancellor’s remarks had “nothing to do with our Safe Space policy”.

Indeed, he pointed out that it is not in fact a policy, but a requirement of their Standing Orders, and that it applies only to conduct at CUSU Council meetings.

The Standing Orders state that “Remarks, behaviour or language that is aggressive, disrespectful, threatening, intimidating, or designed to cause harm or disruption is unnacceptable and will not be tolerated” and “any member of CUSU present has the right not to be photographed, filmed or recorded electronically at a CUSU open meeting”.

Also in his final annual address, the Vice-Chancellor declared 2015 to have been the best year so far for the University’s fundraising efforts, raising in excess of £210 million.

Bringing the ‘Dear World… Yours, Cambridge’ campaign to a total of £743 million of its target of £2 billion, the last year saw donations from the James Dyson Foundation, which gave £8 million to support the James Dyson Building and the Dyson Centre for Engineering Design.

It also saw a £35-million gift from the estate of the late Ray Dolby, who founded the audio laboratories that bear his name, to Pembroke College, and a $25 million gift from campaign co-chair and Egyptian-American businessman Dr Mohamed A. El-Erian.

The Vice-Chancellor declared that philanthropy was “critical” to the University: “[i]t underpins our academic autonomy, and allows us to deliver our transformative research. It brings the best people to study and work with us. They are the people who will produce ideas that change the world.”

He added that “philanthropy is the catalyst of discovery – and it ensures that discoveries continue, even at a time of unparalleled financial challenges.”

“To all our benefactors we owe our immense, continued gratitude.”

He also lavished praise on the collegiate University, stating: “The collegiate nature of the University has been, and remains, one of our greatest strengths.”

“Bound inextricably by history, and by a joint responsibility for students, today the University and the 31 colleges work in a common endeavour more closely than at any time I can remember.”

The Vice-Chancellor also spoke about the continuing need to attract the best talent from around the world, and on the basis of academic ability alone.

“Attracting students based on their abilities rather than their social or educational background is one of the ways in which we fulfil our mission to contribute to society,” adding that “[o]ur undergraduate student body is more diverse than ever before.”