As well as hosting extreme groups at its conference last week, the NUS-led ‘Students Not Suspects‘ campaign also continued to spread inflammatory misinformation about Prevent. These myths include the notion that Prevent is racist and Islamophobic, that is being used to spy on service users, and that it is aimed at shutting down anti-government activism. […]
Continue readingStudents Not Suspects Conference: Campaigning with Extremists
Founded last summer, the ‘Students Not Suspects‘ campaign has now spent an academic year working to undermine Prevent, the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, on university campuses. While students should of course be free to oppose and challenge policy, Student Rights has repeatedly criticised the campaign, which is led by high profile National Union of Students (NUS) […]
Continue readingKingston VC’s comments on Prevent ignore the evidence
Professor Julius Weinberg, vice chancellor of Kingston University, has said university heads are “under a lot of pressure” not to criticise the government’s counter-radicalisation measures, collectively known as the Prevent strategy. Speaking at the University and College Union (UCU) congress in Liverpool last week, Mr Weinberg expressed his concerns Prevent might inhibit free speech and […]
Continue readingStudent campaign continues to undermine Prevent
Over the past academic year, Student Rights has frequently criticised the ‘Students Not Suspects’ campaign which has toured campuses calling on students to undermine the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent. Led by officials at the National Union of Students (NUS), the campaign has repeatedly spread misinformation and false claims about Prevent, some of which risk scaring […]
Continue readingRacist graffiti found at Durham University
Student accommodation and college boathouses at Durham University have been vandalised with antisemitic and anti-Muslim graffiti. Yesterday, the Tab reported that swastikas and SS symbols had been painted on the doors of student housing, as well as the words “rape Ali”. Katie Briggs, a student at Collingwood College, told the Tab this was the second […]
Continue readingNUS disaffiliation campaigns gaining momentum
Yesterday, students at the University of Newcastle overwhelmingly voted to leave the National Union of Students (NUS). This news comes only days after the University of Lincoln Students’ Union announced it was leaving the NUS, after students voted 881 to 804 to leave. These results are a damming indictment of NUS President-elect, Malia Bouattia, whose […]
Continue readingNeo-Nazi group threatens university campuses
National Action, a neo-Nazi group whose activity Student Rights has documented on numerous occasions, has issued more threats against UK universities and their students. The group has a long history of campus activity, and Student Rights has previously logged evidence of the group at Coventry University and the University of Warwick, as well as appearances […]
Continue readingStudent Rights at the University of Nottingham
Last week, Student Rights’ National Organiser, Gray Sergeant, visited universities across the Midlands, meeting up with students from the University of Nottingham, the University of Leicester and the University of Warwick. On Wednesday evening, Gray spoke at the University of Nottingham Agnostic, Secularist and Humanist (UNASH) about extremism and free speech on campus. Students at […]
Continue readingHolocaust denial posters found at Scottish universities
This week, posters labelling the Holocaust as a “robbery” and studies of the genocide as a “fraud” have been found at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. Using quotes from Norman Finkelstein’s book ‘The Holocaust Industry’, the posters claim “much of the literature on Hitler’s Final Solution is worthless as scholarship” and […]
Continue readingStudents plan NUS disaffiliation over presidential vote (Update: Students at more universities raise
Update 22/04/2016: Individual members from student societies across the political spectrum at the University of York (UoY), including the “Labour Club, the York Tories, the UoY Lib Dems, York UKIP, York Greens, PalSoc, York Liberty and York Union”, have announced that they will be working together to write a motion demanding York University Student Union […]
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