An important win

The Free Speech Union announced:

Remember Oliver Jull, the New Plymouth Boys’ High School student who was excluded from the school’s speech finals last year? Well, I have some exciting news for you! 
 
Late last week, our legal team supported Oliver and his parents in a mediation with the school, and the outcome was a great one. 💪  
 
New Plymouth Boys’ High School: 
 
✅ Acknowledged that Oliver Jull was excluded from participating in the finals of the school speech competition because of the content of his speech. 
 
✅ Apologised for this and the distress it caused. 
 
✅ Stated they remain committed to giving effect to the freedom of expression rights of students. 
 
✅ Will host the Free Speech Union later in the year to provide training at the school on best practice guidance on freedom of speech in an educational setting. 

This is why the FSU is so important. Before they existed all the power was with the institutions. But when you have an organisation that can come in and threaten legal action the incentives change massively. You actually achieve culture change.

Oliver’s censored speech is here. It is great the school has explicitly acknowledged that Oliver was excluded based on the content of his speech, as they were previously lying and saying it was because he wasn’t good enough. A shameful way to treat a 15 year old.