Student Voice: Macer Gifford speaks at UCL

Student Rights was pleased to report last month that University College London Union (UCLU) had reversed a decision to ban Macer Gifford from speaking on campus. Last night an event with Gifford went ahead, and he was able tell students about his experiences fighting Islamic State in Syria. Here, Kavar Kurda, the Head of UCL […]

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Petition to ban Germaine Greer highlights lack of debate on campus

The petition calling for Germaine Greer to be banned from campus at Cardiff University is yet another attempt by some students to bar feminist campaigners they find offensive from speaking. Earlier this month, student unions chose to prevent Julie Bindel from appearing at the University of Manchester and attempted to stop Maryam Namazie from attending […]

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Student anger at Haitham Al-Haddad invite (Update: Event cancelled)

UPDATE: Following revelations that the Islamic State militant known as ‘Jihadi John’ may be a former student of the University of Westminster called Mohammed Emwazi, the university announced that the event had been postponed “due to increased sensitivity and security concerns”. A petition calling for the University of Westminster to prevent the extremist cleric Haitham […]

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LSE event exposes an inability to challenge extremism

Last Tuesday an event at the London School of Economics (LSE) saw a speaker allegedly glorify terrorist violence, while another claimed Israelis use rape as a weapon against Palestinians. Rana Baker, a writer for Electronic Intifada, was reported to have called the hijacking of aircraft by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member […]

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