“We saw the spiral of silence…where you have got a dedicated vocal minority that's got its teeth into a contentious issue and is imposing a significant social cost to dissent.”

When Dr James Orr first invited Dr Jordan Peterson to speak at Cambridge, he could not have predicted the backlash. Student activists campaigned on the streets and wrote libellous joint letters. This was an example of one of Britain’s oldest institutions exhibiting cancel culture at its worst.

In our latest ARC Off-Stage Conversation, James Orr shares how a group of academics faced down a vocal minority to defend freedom of speech.

Activists had lobbied the university to restrict thought and inquiry in the name of safety. The university authorities had agreed to make reforms that would have paralysed free inquiry for many scholars overnight, and there was a real social cost for those who disagreed.

This conversation is the first part of a wide-ranging discussion between James Orr, along with John Anderson, Os Guinness, and Dennis Prager. They talk about what it will take to stand up for the truth and free speech, and how we can seek to build and renew institutions.