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This opinion outlines “hidden barriers” such as threats that deter open discussion, self-censorship shaped by deeply internalized limits, and structural constraints that hinder the university’s core missions. It contrasts public attention on protests with less examined mechanisms including defamation threats and cyber harassment, then examines how external funding conditions can shape research agendas, publication access, and communication of findings.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/free-speech-on-australian-campuses-hidden-barriers/594833/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/free-speech-on-australian-campuses-hidden-barriers/594833.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Mary Man","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the document mean by “hidden barriers” to free speech?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It refers to constraints that limit speech without always receiving public attention, including self-censorship and threats that inhibit discussion.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How do student protests relate to free speech on Australian campuses?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The text discusses protests against visiting speakers and argues that such actions can function like censorship by restricting access and discouraging certain viewpoints.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How can external sponsorship affect university research agendas?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Research funding from corporations or governments may come with formal conditions and agreements that restrict what is studied, when results are communicated, and how findings can be published.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},594833,1792210372,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":29,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7421720224475,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nOPINION  \nFree speech on Australian campuses:  \nHidden barriers  \nBrian Martin  \nUniversity of Wollongong  \nSpeech at Australian universities is restricted in various ways. A few of them, such as student protests against visiting speakers, receive lots of attention. Others seldom do, such as defamation threats and cyber harassment. Self-censorship may be more significant than overt censorship. Those who want to raise awareness of hidden limitations on speech can learn from the methods used to raise the alarm about student protests.  \nKeywords: free speech; academic freedom; censorship; self-censorship; dissent  \nIntroduction  \nOn 11 September 2018, Bettina Arndt, a social commentator and former sex therapist, was scheduled to give a talk at the University of Sydney. Student protesters, opposed to Arndt’s views about rape on campus, blocked access to the venue, and police were called to enable the talk to proceed. Protest organisers from the University’s Wom*n’s Collective were quoted as saying that “Giving Bettina Arndt a platform on this issue has the potential to cause a great deal of harm to students and survivors of sexual assault, who are having their experiences questioned by her tour”(Roberts, 2018) . On the other hand, supporters of Arndt presented the protest as a threat to free speech on campus (Devine, 2018; Fernando, 2018; Sammut, 2018) .  \nMore generally, some commentators see protests against visiting speakers as a manifestation of toxic political correctness, in which demands for protection from disturbing ideas are stunting the expression of diverse viewpoints on campuses and beyond (e.g., Kinsella, 2018; Lesh, 2018a; Merritt, 2018). Much of this commentary sees  \nAustralia being infected by the same kind of intolerance as in Britain and the US (Fox, 2016; Lukianoff and Haidt, 2018) .  \nBecause much of this commentary is impressionistic and draws on anecdotes, ironically it is very far from a scholarly assessment of free speech on campus. Although there is a vast body of research on censorship (Jones, 2001), scholars have not agreed on a consistent and comprehensive way of judging and comparing different types of constraints on speech, on campus or elsewhere. There are challenges galore. Whose speech is at risk: students, academics, non-academic staff, visitors? To whom are they trying to communicate? What are they trying to say? How are they trying to say it? What media are they using? There is a huge difference between an academic writing an article for a scholarly journal and a student making a comment on Twitter.  \nThough some scholars say only states can censor speech, in practice any group with a near-monopoly on power can do so, for example corporations (Jansen, 1988) . Students lack this sort of power, but they can still act like censors, as in the protest against Arndt.  \nvol. 61, no. 1, 2019 Free speech on Australian campuses: Hidden barriers Brian Martin 49  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nIn the study of censorship, there is an even greater challenge: some speech is inhibited.When people deeply absorb limits to discourse, there are things they never even consider saying. Self-censorship is very hard to document compared with overt censorship.  \nAnother complication is that there are several legitimate and widely accepted constraints on speech. Rules against serious verbal abuse, as in cases of bullying, are an example.  \nGiven the definitional and methodological difficulties in assessing free speech, my limited aim here is to outline some of the barriers in universities that receive relatively little public attention. This is an exercise of highlighting what is sometimes overlooked, not to make a definitive assessment. I briefly discuss a variety of constraints or inhibitions, and then examine them in light of methods of making censorship backfire.This is not to dismiss those concerns that do receive attention –","cbCaisdodkUQhKJ4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisdodkUQhKJ4","pdf",130915,"English","# Introduction\n## Research agendas","[{\"question\":\"What does the document mean by “hidden barriers” to free speech?\",\"answer\":\"It refers to constraints that limit speech without always receiving public attention, including self-censorship and threats that inhibit discussion.\"},{\"question\":\"How do student protests relate to free speech on Australian campuses?\",\"answer\":\"The text discusses protests against visiting speakers and argues that such actions can function like censorship by restricting access and discouraging certain viewpoints.\"},{\"question\":\"How can external sponsorship affect university research agendas?\",\"answer\":\"Research funding from corporations or governments may come with formal conditions and agreements that restrict what is studied, when results are communicated, and how findings can be published.\"}]","Free speech on Australian campuses - Hidden barriers | PDF",1792079928,15]