On Wednesday 30th September, Student Rights attended an event at University College London (UCL) entitled ‘Challenging Prevent: Defending our universities, communities and civil liberties’. The event formed part of the NUS’ launch of a Prevent helpline, whose purpose according to leaflets distributed at the event is to “support students and student union officers” and fight […]
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The Huffington Post: When It Comes To Anti-Semitism, The NUS Just Doesn’t Get It
With the release of the Home Affairs Select Committee’s (HASC) much publicised report concerning anti-Semitism in the UK, campus tensions facing Jewish students have once more become a pressing issue of public discourse. Amid the general rise of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK, the British press has notably covered alleged anti-Semitic behaviour within the National […]
Continue readingHome Affairs Committee report slams NUS leadership
Yesterday saw the release of the Home Affairs Select Committee’s (HASC) report into antisemitism in the UK, which included a significant section on campus antisemitism. While this section began by detailing the controversy around Oxford University Labour Club, as well as Baroness Royall’s report into the matter, the focus was on the National Union of […]
Continue readingNUS delegate’s rant shows wider problem in student movement
Daniel Yahia, a student at the University of Edinburgh elected as a National Union of Students (NUS) delegate, has been accused of using antisemitic language on his Facebook page When discussing Nir Bitton, an Israeli footballer who plays for Celtic, Mr Yahia wrote: “Sick of seeing Celtic fans creaming themselves over Nir Bitton. We are […]
Continue readingProtest against hate at the University of Oxford
Students at the University of Oxford took part in a spontaneous protest last week after several preachers set up a stall near their colleges claiming the victims of the Orlando shooting “deserved their fates because of who they were”. The events followed the murder of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on […]
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 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 […]
Continue readingGuest Post: ‘Safe Spaces’, but not for Jews, Israelis or Zionists
Following the events at King’s College London (KCL) on Tuesday, former KCL student and Student Rights blogger Emma Webb gives her take on the issue. All views are her own and do not necessarily represent those of Student Rights… The ‘Rhodes Saga’ has brought ‘safe spaces’ out from the shadows of student politics into the […]
Continue readingMarine Le Pen and the University of Oxford (Update: Event delayed by protest)
UPDATE: Up to 300 demonstrators are reported to have picketed this event in opposition to Marine Le Pen, with a small number forcing the event to be delayed for over an hour as they “came close to scaling the walls from the street outside”. Tomorrow, the leader of the French Front National, Marine Le Pen, […]
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