Student Rights at the University of Newcastle

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the University of Newcastle at an event organised by the Atheist and Secular Humanists Society. It was a great opportunity to discuss extremism and free speech on campus, and to showcase our work. Since starting at Student Rights, I’ve travelled across the country, speaking to students […]

Continue reading

A step in the right direction at Kingston University

Earlier this week, Kingston University’s Department of Journalism hosted a panel discussion on the government’s Prevent Strategy. Last term, we saw a series of events where speakers from extreme groups went unchallenged as they condemned Prevent, spreading misleading and divisive information in the process. Monday’s event saw a rare and welcome attempt to provide an […]

Continue reading

Student Rights at Exeter Debating Society

Last Friday, Student Rights National Organiser Gray Sergeant spoke at the University of Exeter Debating Society on the motion ‘This House Supports No Platform Policies at University’. Here he outlines his opinion on the topic. On being invited to attend this debate, I spoke for the motion despite my increasing frustration with overzealous student unions […]

Continue reading

The Prevent Duty on Campus – Rupert Sutton speech

The issue of extremism on university campuses has been part of the public debate since the 7/7 attacks, and comes under new scrutiny every time an individual involved in violent extremism is found to have studied at a UK university. In 2011, the revised Prevent strategy declared there was “…unambiguous evidence” extremist organisations targeted specific […]

Continue reading

Report: Maryam Namazie Speaks at Warwick University

On Wednesday evening, Student Rights travelled to Warwick University to hear human rights campaigner Maryam Namazie address students. The event, entitled ‘Apostasy, Blasphemy and Free Expression in the age of ISIS’, discussed how the rise of extreme Islamist movements has suppressed human rights in the Middle East, and also focused on attempts to silence criticism […]

Continue reading

Student Rights welcomes Counter-Extremism Strategy

Earlier this week, the Home Secretary outlined a number of new measures to counter extremism which aim to “systematically confront and challenge extremist ideology”. Student Rights broadly welcomes the new Counter-Extremism Strategy, which identifies extremist activity on UK campuses as a serious problem which must be tackled without damaging freedom of expression. The strategy reaffirms […]

Continue reading

New Student Rights report examines challenges to Prevent

A new report by Student Rights has found that the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, is being prevented from functioning effectively due to widespread student opposition, despite significant concerns about on-campus extremism. ‘Preventing Prevent? Challenges to Counter-Radicalisation Policy On Campus’, released today, has recorded over 100 on-campus events each year since 2012 hosting speakers with extreme views or a history […]

Continue reading

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s hypocrisy on freedom of speech (Update: Event report on HT website)

UPDATE 04/05/2015: Following last week’s event a report of Dr Wahid’s speech has been published on the HT website. In this, Dr Wahid states that his aim was: “exposing the UK Counter-Extremism policy called ‘Prevent’ for an audience that may not be well-acquainted with its most sinister and pernicious aspects”. He also claims that: “‘Deradicalisation’…is […]

Continue reading