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 […]
Continue readingTag Archives: civil liberties
UEL Islamophobia event sees NUS officer share panel with extremists
Last Monday, the University of East London (UEL) hosted an event entitled ‘After Paris Horror…Don’t let the Racists Divide Us. No to Islamophobia. Defend Civil Liberties’. It is important that universities remain spaces in which students can both raise awareness of anti-Muslim hatred and freely discuss and criticise government policies. Unfortunately, the event was instead […]
Continue readingUCU opposition to Prevent leads to support for extremists
In recent months, government attempts to deal with campus extremism have faced opposition from students, lecturers, and even the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Following the General Election, plans to give universities a legal duty to prevent students from being drawn into extremism have returned to the agenda – as has the resistance to […]
Continue readingNUS motion pledges to work with CAGE
Over the past two days, delegates from the National Union of Students (NUS) have been meeting in Liverpool for the organisation’s Annual Conference. Voting on new policy, the NUS once again showed its inability to challenge extremism, instead passing a motion resolving to oppose government counter-extremism work. Motion 517 declared that “NUS officers will not […]
Continue readingThe Counter-Terrorism Bill and David Souaan
Following criticism from students and university staff, on Wednesday it was agreed in the House of Lords that an amendment would be made to the proposed Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill. This would mandate institutions to take into account their duty to protect freedom of expression when following new provisions to prevent students from “being drawn […]
Continue reading