English university students must face 'shocking' ideas in a drive to protect free speech on campus
LONDON — Students at English universities must prepare to confront ideas they find uncomfortable and shocking, the national regulator for higher education said as it released new guidelines governing free speech on campuses across the country.
The Office for Students said Thursday that freedom of speech and academic freedom are crucial to higher education, so the guidelines are designed to ensure that universities don't stifle any form of legal speech on their campuses or in their classrooms.
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CBS News
30 minutes ago
- CBS News
Florida officials let public universities free up $22.5 million to pay student-athletes
Florida's public universities can free up $22.5 million a year to compensate student-athletes under an emergency rule approved by a state board Wednesday ahead of a landmark legal settlement allowing schools to pay their players through licensing deals. The sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement, going into effect July 1, allows schools to directly pay their pay their players for the use of their name, image and likeness. It's upending the way college sports have been run for more than a century and has sent universities across the country scrambling for new revenue streams in the hopes of gaining an edge — or at least keeping pace — in the rapidly evolving and highly competitive field of college athletics. Public universities in Florida, which is home to some of the country's most high-profile college sports teams, will now be able to dip into the funding reserves of campus auxiliary programs like bookstores, food service, student housing and parking in order to cut checks to student-athletes. Under the policy approved Wednesday, the funds can be issued as a transfer or a loan. "Athletic departments are already currently recruiting student-athletes for fall 2025, and they need clarity on the available funding to retain and recruit the best talent for their rosters," said Alan Levine, vice chair of the board of governors, which oversees Florida's state universities. "If the universities cannot react to the settlement immediately, there will be irreparable harm to the athletic programs and to the financial welfare of our institutions." Florida's emergency rule goes into effect immediately and will last 90 days, at which point the board of governors can reassess the issue. Other schools are also taking actions because of deficits in their athletic departments. Last week, University of Kentucky trustees approved a $31 million operating loan for the athletics department as it begins making direct payments to athletes. Meanwhile, Louisiana is poised to hike taxes on sports betting to pump more than $24 million into athletic departments. And Arkansas this year became the first to waive state income taxes on payments made to athletes by higher education institutions.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Spending review 2025: key points at a glance
The chancellor talks up the government's economic record and the decisions made at the budget. She makes the obligatory mention of the Conservatives' '14 years of mismanagement and decline' and the supposed £22bn fiscal hole. 'We are renewing Britain,' she says – while accepting that many Britons 'have yet to feel it'. This spending review will change it, she says. Reeves says the review is 'time for parties opposite to make their choices', adding that the spending and investment she will unveil is only possible because of tax choices in the autumn budget and the revised fiscal rules, which the Conservatives opposed. They must make 'an honest choice' on whether to support the extra money, she says. Reeves says overall departmental spending will rise by 2.3% a year in real terms, contrasting her 'Labour choices' with what she calls the destructive legacy of austerity. That is the overall figure, but some departments will still feel a squeeze, even with what the chancellor says is an extra £190bn in day-to-day spending over the parliament. Related: Rachel Reeves delivers spending review and says use of hotels for asylum seekers to end 'in this parliament'– UK politics live On the first set of specifics, Reeves sets out already-announced details of increased spending on defence and security, making sure to stress the boost to jobs in the sector, particularly in Scotland. Reeves says the new Border Security Command will receive up to £280m more a year by the end of the spending-review period. She also promises that all spending on hotels for asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be heard will stop by the end of this parliament. In more 'news we have largely already been told', Reeves sets out what she says will be £30bn in investment in nuclear power, of which about half will go to the Sizewell C reactor. She also announced new money for small modular nuclear reactors, and for research into nuclear fusion. There is also confirmed funding for a carbon capture project in Aberdeenshire. While this isn't necessarily an announcement, Reeves's long digression into the importance of steel made in the UK can be seen at least partly in the context of Nigel Farage's recent forays into pushing for reindustrialisation. In a mixed bag of announcements, the chancellor says there will be £2bn more for investment in artificial intelligence; an increase in funding for the state-run British Business Bank; and up to £1.2bn a year by the end of the parliament for skills training for young people. Now we get to the bigger news. As saved up for release the day before the spending review, Reeves sets out what she calls the 'biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in 50 years', saying it is worth £39bn over the next decade. Also partly briefed in advance, Reeves talks about investment in rail, airports and buses, including a boost to Northern Powerhouse Rail and East West Rail, and funding for the Midlands rail hub, as well as a £400m-plus investment in Welsh rail projects (the last not unconnected to next year's Senedd elections). She says she will provide a fourfold increase in local transport grants for areas outside London, and that Transport for London will get a four-year spending deal. Finally, she promises a change to Treasury rules to allow for more spending across the regions. This involves £350m for facilities such as parks, libraries and swimming pools in a series of towns. Reeves lists a few, the bulk of which appear to be represented by Labour MPs. The chancellor says she will increase police spending by 2.3% a year in real terms. This sounds reasonably significant, but police organisations seem likely to insist the increase will not properly help protect services, and it was the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, who had the longest and toughest pre-review fight with the Treasury. Reeves also mentions the previously announced £7bn to finance 14,000 new prison places. Almost skated over in the address, Reeves confirms she will fully honour the Labour manifesto commitment of a £13.2bn fund to fix draughty homes and install heat pumps and solar panels. The chancellor does not mention this as an environmental measure, but as a way to, she says, save people an average of £600 a year in bills. Also already announced, but in the absence of any plan to end the two-child benefit cap it gives Reeves the chance to talk about reducing child poverty. She also announces £370m for schools-based nurseries and £555m to stop children going into care when it can be prevented. Reeves sets out what she says will be £2.3bn a year to fix and maintain existing schools, and £2.4bn on building new schools. The chancellor saves this until last, bringing cheers from Labour MPs by promising a real-terms 3% a year addition to spending on the health services over the parliament, saying this will amount to an extra £29bn in spending overall.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bank's rate decision leaves frustrated Reeves praying for an August cut
Last week's spending review revealed Rachel Reeves's plan for reviving the UK's struggling economy – but one of the most powerful levers for unleashing growth lies out of her reach, at the Bank of England. Thursday's no-change decision on interest rates from the Bank's nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) was widely expected; but the chancellor and her colleagues will be fervently hoping for a cut in August, perhaps sooner – and more before the year is up. The Bank's governor, Andrew Bailey, had already warned the pace of rate cuts looked uncertain, as a result of Donald Trump's trade wars. The alarming prospect of a fresh conflict in the Middle East is likely to have made MPC members even more cautious. The minutes from Thursday's meeting suggested the MPC would 'remain sensitive to heightened unpredictability in the economic and geopolitical environment,' and would 'continue to update its assessment of risks to the economy'. Evidence of rising food prices in the latest inflation data is also likely to have preyed on their minds – driven in part by climactic challenges, including the poor harvests that triggered the largest annual increase in chocolate costs on record. Inflation is expected to remain around its current level of 3.4% for the rest of the year – well above the Bank's 2% target. Yet the minutes did also suggest the balance of opinion is shifting towards loosening policy, as the jobs market continues to slow down, helping to alleviate concerns about bumper wage deals driving up inflation. The MPC now expects the impact of Trump's tariffs to be less dramatic than at its last forecast in May, given various concessions and deals – though they stress that 'trade policy uncertainty would nevertheless continue to have an impact on the UK economy'. Dave Ramsden, deputy governor, voted for a quarter-point cut, to 4% – joining the external members Alan Taylor and Swati Dhingra, both of whom wanted a bigger-than-consensus half-point reduction in May. The paragraph of the minutes that set out their argument pointed to the fact that 'the cumulative evidence from a range of labour market data pointed to a material further loosening in labour market conditions'. Ramsden has previously been slightly ahead of the consensus in moving to cut – he was ready for rates to come down in May last year, three months before the eventual reduction in August; and wanted to see a cut in December, that didn't happen until February. The other two doves voted for a bumper half-point cut in May, so it is no surprise that they would have liked to have seen another reduction on Thursday. Dhingra told MPs on the Treasury select committee recently that she was becoming increasingly concerned about the risk that holding policy 'too tight' for an extended period – ie keeping rates high – risked undermining the economy's potential to grow. Bailey confirmed alongside Thursday's no-change decision that rates remained on a 'gradual downward path'. That appears to point to another quarter-point cut in August. Reeves will be hoping the MPC picks up the pace.
