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) […]
Continue readingTag Archives: Munir Farooqi
MP writes to SOAS over extreme speaker events
Last week, it was reported that ‘Helping Households under Great Stress’ (HHUGS) had campaigned at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) during an event calling for the release of convicted terrorists. Journalists were given a card claiming Islamist terrorist Adel Abdel Bary was detained without charge, despite Bary’s 2014 conviction for his involvement […]
Continue readingBrothers Behind Bars event at SOAS
An event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) last night saw speakers defend convicted terrorists including Munir Farooqi and Anis Sardar. Called ‘Brothers Behind Bars’, the event was organised by the SOAS Muslim Students Association and sought to focus on “the Plight of Muslim Prisoners in the ‘War on Terror’”. The panel […]
Continue readingSOAS speakers claim undermined by event history
Last week, following a government press release which ‘named and shamed’ several universities for hosting extreme speakers, one of the institutions identified hit back at these claims. Laura Gibbs, registrar of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), argued in a statement that the college had “not hosted any extremist speakers in the last […]
Continue readingNUS President denounced for cutting ties with CAGE
A number of activists within the student movement have signed an open letter denouncing the National Union of Students (NUS) President Megan Dunn for issuing a statement pledging to cut NUS ties with CAGE. Following Dunn’s claim that “working with Cage would not be compatible with the NUS’s policies on ‘anti-racism, anti-fascism and how we […]
Continue readingMoazzam Begg to speak at NUS-organised event tour (Update: NUS statement)
UPDATE 04/09/2015: An NUS statement released to the Daily Mail has claimed that: “The events are being run as a coalitions with a number of other organisations, we are a large organisation and represent a wide diversity of views, some of our officers with different views have chosen to work with the coalition”. In July, […]
Continue reading‘Ten years of HHUGS’ highlight off-campus concerns
This weekend the charity Helping Households under Great Stress (HHUGS) will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a gender segregated event at an unannounced London venue. Promoted on Facebook by the Islamic Societies at Kingston University and the University of Westminster, this shows how online networks can expose students to extreme groups and individuals. HHUGS encouraged […]
Continue readingExtreme events show extent of campus issue
The announcement last week by the Home Secretary of new measures to combat extremism on campuses was welcomed here at Student Rights. Theresa May confirmed new laws will make dealing with extremist speakers a legal duty for universities and colleges, ensuring it is taken seriously by institutions. However, as media attention moves on, Student Rights […]
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