The University of Oxford¡¯s vice-chancellor has urged students to act with ¡°more kindness¡± amid a renewed drive to ensure controversial views are aired on campuses.

Irene Tracey told ̽»¨ÊÓƵ¡¯s World Academic Summit that students and staff should reflect on whether they are acting with courtesy and respect even if their words and actions fall within the bounds of what is legally permissible.

¡°Our students are struggling with issues around free speech and what¡¯s appropriate to say, even if it¡¯s within the letter of the law,¡± said Tracey, speaking at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.

¡°Words matter and have an effect on people,¡± she continued, adding that ¡°kindness, courtesy and respect are things we have to remind and educate our students about¡±.

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Tracey¡¯s words come after the UK government introduced new laws that set a ¡°high bar¡± on curbing free speech at universities. Ensuring a diversity of thought within higher education has also been a key theme of the Trump administration, while the long-running Israel-Hamas conflict has tested the boundaries of what should and shouldn¡¯t be said on both sides.

The Oxford leader said concerns over student welfare had arisen ¡°because there hasn¡¯t been enough kindness and support¡±, stating it was important to ¡°remind, right from the start of freshers arriving this week in Oxford, to be kind and to have more kindness in our society because from that stems [into] an awful lot of other things¡±.

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Her comments echo remarks made in the vice-chancellor¡¯s?to scholars at Oxford¡¯s Sheldonian Theatre on 7 October in which Tracey explained that Oxford¡¯s ¡°proud culture of free speech¡± should also include ¡°modelling what good discussion, debate and disagreement look like¡±.

Oxford will start delivering ¡°in-person inductions about an inclusive student experience to more than 3,000 freshers at 24 colleges,¡± explained Tracey, stating that those who have already taken the course ¡°understood EDI [Equity, Diversity and Inclusion] better and felt more confident about handling conflict or disagreement as a result¡±.

Speaking at Saudi Arabia¡¯s leading research university on 8 October, Tracey said she had deliberately chosen to target ¡°hope and kindness¡± as key themes during her leadership at Oxford.

¡°When I started on that theme a year ago, I reminded people ¨C especially students ¨C that those words aren¡¯t weak, soft words. They¡¯re actually incredibly difficult things to achieve,¡± she said, adding: ¡°To be kind is to be giving, and it takes huge strength.¡±

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Her comments are likely, however, to ignite concerns over academic freedom and the ability of scholars to espouse unpopular or socially divisive views that remain within the law. It follows controversies over whether institutional policies on EDI could breach new freedom of speech legislation by compelling academics to remain silent on potentially controversial areas.

Tracey stressed that truth would remain the ¡°North Star¡± for students and academics, and it was also important to have ¡°cognitive friction or dissonance debate¡± but this kind of debate could be done ¡°in a kind way¡±.

The?increasing role of artificial intelligence in public life was making the importance of university teaching in this area even more crucial, said Tracey.

It was the ¡°duty¡± of academic institutions to ¡°double down on some of the core aspects¡± of human thinking ¨C namely ¡°memory, logic and rational thinking¡±.

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¡°AI is just going to become more and more the norm ¨C we have to think about what it is it we can offer students. I¡¯m talking very much about the teaching side of the university ¨C making sure that students have core faculties in their brains that are reskilled and skilled so they can go off as adults in the world.

¡°AI will be taking many...decisions ¨C and maybe doing it better in terms of more unbiased decision-making in certain aspects ¨C but we still need humans to think. On that question, our job is more important than ever,¡± she said.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com