Blog Index

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. Such claims ...

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) officers, ...

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 labelled ...

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 students ...

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 time these ...

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 campaign last ...

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 at ...

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 the University ...

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 “nonsense…is ...

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 ...

The National Union of Students’ (NUS) conference kicks off in Brighton today, with the accompanying electoral processes dogged by antisemitism allegations against Malia Bouattia, who is running for NUS President. On Thursday, Student Rights detailed how a number of student Jewish Society members had raised questions about Bouattia’s ability to represent them, as well as covering ...

Over 50 representatives from university Jewish Societies have raised serious questions about Malia Bouattia’s candidacy for National Union of Students (NUS) President. In an open letter, these students have called on Bouattia to explain past anti-Zionist statements and questioned her links to the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK), currently no-platformed by the NUS. Bouattia’s remarks describing ...

Over the weekend, Aysegul Gurbuz, a student at the University of Warwick and Labour councillor in Luton, was in the spotlight after a series of antisemitic tweets she had made were exposed. These revelations, which have seen Gurbuz resign, follow a series of scandals involving students and antisemitism, including allegations made against Oxford University Labour Club. Student ...

Last month, Student Rights released a new briefing highlighting evidence of antisemitism on-campus in the wake of allegations made against members of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC). Among this evidence was information on how the neo-Nazi group National Action, which promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories, Nazi imagery and violent antisemitic rhetoric, had sought to target campuses ...

Yesterday, the University of Exeter’s Student Union (SU) adopted ‘Right2Debate’, a policy designed to protect free speech while ensuring extreme and intolerant views are challenged. Rather than banning speakers, the policy will require event organisers to balance platforms when speakers who violate the SU’s safe space policies, are invited onto campus. It also requires these speakers to ...

Update 15/04/2016: The University has since disputed claims that Ifaturoti’s complaints weren’t treated with urgency. Peter Dunn, Director of press and policy at Warwick, has said “as soon as Warwick Accommodation were alerted to the matter, they too immediately sought out both the student and the Deputy Warden.” The University has also stated that alternative accommodation was ...

A new briefing released today by Student Rights examines the number of events featuring speakers with a history of extreme or intolerant views, or a history of involvement with extremist organisations, logged across London in the first four months of the 2015-16 academic year. Managing extreme speakers was highlighted by the government as part of a ...

Student Rights has long argued that antisemitism at UK universities remains a serious problem, and our latest briefing, ‘Antisemitism on Campus’, highlighted the various manifestations this form of racism can take, from incidents at on-campus events to activity on student society social media. Today, the Jewish Chronicle has reported “recurring incidents” of antisemitic graffiti at Goldsmiths ...

Update 22/04/2016: Majeed has been given a life sentence and will serve a minimum tariff of 20 years. Suhaib Majeed, a physics student at King’s College London (KCL), has been convicted today of conspiracy to murder and preparation of terrorist acts. Found guilty of firearms possession yesterday, Majeed and school friend Tarik Hassane, who had already pleaded ...

Yesterday, Student Rights attended a protest outside the National Union of Students (NUS) office in London which rallied various free speech groups in opposition to the increasing censorship seen on university campuses. This has included human rights activist Maryam Namazie being banned from Warwick, as well as attempts to stop her speaking at Goldsmiths by members ...

Here at Student Rights, we have often highlighted the need to ensure extremists face challenge on-campus, and encourage students to debate speakers with extreme and intolerant views. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen enough. Unbalanced platforms and hostile environments which suppress views different to the panellists often result in students’ voices being marginalised. On Tuesday, students at the University ...

Last night, Student Rights’ Director, Rupert Sutton, spoke at the University of Westminster at an event asking whether students should “promote or prevent the Prevent Strategy”. Appearing alongside Abdullah Al-Andalusi and Jahangir Mohammed, as well as University of Westminster lecturer Dr. Dibyesh Anand, he addressed the clear need for Prevent and sought to challenge the false ...

Last week saw the publication of thousands of Islamic State (IS) documents reveal the name of another student from the University of Westminster who had travelled to Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group. The Telegraph has reported that the files include the details of 18 year old Mohammed Jackir Ali, who dropped out of his ...

President of the University of Kent ASH Society, Peter Keeling, gives his take on seeing Hamza Tzortzis appear on campus following Gino Ragnoli’s blog on Tzortzis’ Leicester appearance. All views are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of Student Rights… Hamza’s Tzortzis’ talk, entitled ‘YOLO’, was given to a well-attended lecture theatre, although the ...

While isolated claims of antisemitism have long been made on UK campuses, the issue was recently brought to the forefront of the public debate by allegations made against members of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC). While the scale of these allegations was shocking, Student Rights has long argued that antisemitism is a serious problem which ...