Freedom of speech at New Zealand universities is being debated at Victoria University later this month, and discussion referring to a recent survey on the topic has been labelled misleading. (File photo) Photo: 123 RF
The Free Speech Union has pulled a website link to a report on academic freedom that has been criticised as misleading.
The group also adjusted a recent media statement which referenced the report, in response to concerns raised by the company who conducted the survey.
The 2023 Academic Freedom Survey, conducted by Curia Market Research - owned by National Party's pollster and blogger David Farrar - said a survey of academics found only 46 percent agreed they felt free to question received wisdom and state controversial and unpopular opinions.
But the summary of the research was found to have fallen short of scientific standards and Curia had previously updated the research to include a warning that conclusions could not be treated as representative of all academics.
Despite that, the Free Speech Union (FSU) had continued to link to the unamended version of the report until approached by RNZ this week.
Farrar also said he contacted the group fearing public statements made this week continued to overstate the objectivity of the research.
Hate speech furore brings academic freedom into the spotlight
FSU head Jonathan Ayling will appear on the panel of a Victoria University debate entitled 'The role of universities in supporting freedom of speech' at the end of the month.
Jonathan Ayling Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The original event was postponed after a student backlash over a lack of diversity on the panel and the Free Speech Union's support of anti-trans activists and anti-Māori co-governance speakers.
At the time Ayling defended his organisation and said the FSU "stood up for everyone's right to speak".
"If we're going to live in this idea that everyone gets to have a say, that in a democracy everyone gets to participate in society equally, then we're going to have to accept that if you disagree with someone or you consider their perspective offensive, or harmful, or belligerent, they still get a say," Ayling said.
Research complaint upheld
In a media release this week, Ayling said that a "climate of fear" in the country's universities meant "50 percent of academics at some universities do not feel free to raise differing perspectives on key issues", citing the research carried out on behalf of the FSU by Curia Market Research.
But University of Otago's Associate Professor Ben Gray said last year FSU and Curia Market Research had failed to divulge issues affecting the validity of the research.
Gray said the report into the FSU's Academic Freedom Survey 2023 did not disclose the response rate to the survey.
"It claimed to have been done in accordance with the code of practice of the Research Association of New Zealand (RANZ), I lodged a complaint with RANZ and they upheld my view because as it turned out the response rate was only 2.8 percent.
"So in fact an accurate statement from Free Speech Union would be that 50 percent of 2.8 percent of academics held that view," Gray said.
Curia Market Research accepted the finding and posted an amended report online.
The amendment made clear the limitations of the sample size, pointing out that 16,000 email addresses taken from eight university websites were sent the survey, but of those only 452 responses were completed. It said an estimated 40 percent may have had the survey invitation blocked by filtering software, while others could have chosen not to respond because of "different views on the FSU".
"As there is no overall demographic profile available of New Zealand academics at universities, the responses could not be weighted to compensate for any differences between respondents and the target population. For these reasons, these results should not be treated as necessarily representing the views of all academics in NZ universities. They are the views of those who responded," the amendment stated.
RANZ Professional Conduct Officer Jude Varcoe confirmed the complaint had been upheld.
"RANZ finds any consultation between The Client [FSU] and Curia that may have occurred fell short of the minimum standard required by The Code. RANZ cannot ascertain if the reported results were misleading, without assessing levels of systematic bias in the sample.
"However, RANZ finds that the level of confidence with which the results were reported may have been misleading," Varcoe said.
FSU statements a concern to Curia
Earlier in the week, the link to the report from the FSU website continued to direct readers to the original, unadjusted report.
When RNZ raised the issue with Curia Market Research, head David Farrar said he had emailed the FSU earlier in the day, asking them to more accurately reflect the limitations of the research in their public statements.
David Farrar Photo: SUPPLIED
He said he stood behind the Academic Freedom Survey 2023 report but only after the amendments had been added.
"That's the only official report that Curia stands behind - with those amendments - and ideally [it] should be the only one out there on the internet. It is very important that that amendment which was put in is read of and included as part of the report.
"All I'll say generally is never blame to malice what you can put down to incompetence. The link should be to the amended report," Farrar said.
On the FSU website this week's media release was quickly amended and soon after the link to the report was no longer functioning.
Ayling said he accepted the research should be discussed with its limitations in mind but he said the general effect of the research was in parallel to a similar survey - with a larger response rate - from the previous year and a 2023 internal survey conducted by the University of Auckland law school.
Curia's 2022 Academic Freedom Poll showed large proportion's of the academics survey occupying polar opposites in their perception of freedom within their institution. For example more than a fifth of the 1266 respondents felt their freedom to question and test received wisdom was very low, while at the other end of the spectrum, nearly two fifths said their freedom to do so was very high.
In 2023 an internal survey at the University of Auckland law school - leaked to the Business Desk website - showed only 15 percent of staff surveyed felt they were able to "respectfully voice my views without fear of any negative impact".
Ayling said the FSU invited the eight universities approached for their 2023 survey to conduct their own research on the matter, but said each had declined.
"We're not a university, we're not academics. The six people who wrote this report all have PhD's and have all worked in New Zealand universities. They absolutely stand by this report, but we've always said 'if you don't think this is right, why don't you look into it? Why don't you ask your people what they think?'
"I think an interesting question is why did we have no trouble getting 1250 academics [in 2022] and then the next year far fewer respondents. Why are people hesitant to engage on this?" Ayling said.
Free Speech Union's website has since been corrected to direct traffic to the amended version of the 2023 Academic Freedom Survey.