Last week, Student Rights’ National Organiser, Elliot Miller, gave on-campus presentations in Exeter and Leeds focusing on challenging extremism and opening up debate on the Prevent duty. On 23rd November, Miller gave a presentation focused on the myths and realities of the Prevent duty at the University of Exeter Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society (AHS). […]
Continue readingTag Archives: extremist speakers on campus
Student Rights at the University of Manchester
Last week, Elliot Miller, the new National Organiser at Student Rights, led a ‘Challenging Extremism Workshop’ session at the University of Manchester. Hosted by students on 20th October, the workshop consisted of a brief presentation about the different types of extreme speakers and groups which target campuses, as well as the pros and cons of […]
Continue readingStudent Voice: Prevent and the NUS’ credibility gap on tackling extremism
Queen Mary student, Jacob Kishere, attended last month’s ‘Students not Suspects’ event at his university which saw NUS vice president, Shelly Asquith, criticised for encouraging students to ensure universities were unable to fulfill their legal duties around Prevent. Here, he gives his take on the positions taken by the speakers. All views are his own, […]
Continue reading‘Students not Suspects’ at Queen Mary
A new year has only just begun on university campuses, and the National Union of Students’ (NUS) anti-Prevent agenda has been quick off the block to pick up where it left off last year. This has taken the form of the ‘Students Not Suspects’ campaign, which hosted an event in association with Queen Mary University […]
Continue readingNew NUS President sparks further controversy
The new academic year has barely started, yet the new President of the National Union of Students (NUS), Malia Bouattia, has once again sparked controversy. During her time as NUS Black Students’ Officer, Bouattia infamously opposed a motion condemning Islamic State, and earlier this year 50 Presidents of Jewish student societies criticised her for previously […]
Continue readingGoldsmiths student unmasked as IS recruiter
A Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed the identity of Umm Muthanna Al-Britaniyah, an Islamic State (IS) recruiter who tried to lure young British Muslim women to travel to Syria to marry fighters. The woman is believed to be Tooba Gondal, a 22 year old from East London who studied English at Goldsmiths College. While […]
Continue readingStudent Rights in Brussels
Yesterday, Student Rights’ director, Rupert Sutton, spoke in Brussels at an event, hosted by the European Policy Centre (EPC), which sought to address the issue of jihadist radicalisation in schools, universities, prisons and mosques. He was joined on the panel by Muhammad Manwar Ali, Chief Executive of JIMAS, Rodrigo Ballester, the European Commissioner for Education, […]
Continue readingStudents Not Suspects Conference: Myths and Scaremongering
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 […]
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