The Telegraph: Universities monitored your emails long before Prevent – don’t believe the NUS’s fake news

King’s College London (KCL) has been criticised this week  for supposedly ‘spying on student’s emails’ in what has been described an outrageous invasion of their privacy. ​It is claimed that the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, which aims to stop people being drawn into terrorism, is the problem.The President of the National Union of Students (NUS), Malia […]

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Student Rights on campus

Last week, Student Rights’ National Organiser, Elliot Miller, gave on-campus presentations in Exeter and Leeds focusing on challenging extremism and opening up debate on the Prevent duty. On 23rd November, Miller gave a presentation focused on the myths and realities of the Prevent duty at the University of Exeter Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society (AHS). […]

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Student Voice: Prevent and the NUS’ credibility gap on tackling extremism

Queen Mary student, Jacob Kishere, attended last month’s ‘Students not Suspects’ event at his university which saw NUS vice president, Shelly Asquith, criticised for encouraging students to ensure universities were unable to fulfill their legal duties around Prevent. Here, he gives his take on the positions taken by the speakers. All views are his own, […]

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Students Not Suspects Conference: Campaigning with Extremists

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) […]

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Kingston 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 […]

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NUS officer speaks at MEMO event

Here at Student Rights, we have frequently criticised National Union of Students (NUS) officials when they have campaigned alongside groups like CAGE and MEND. This trend continued last Saturday, when NUS Black Students’ Officer Malia Bouattia spoke at an event organised by Middle East Monitor (MEMO) titled ‘Targeting Dissent: Israel’s Crackdown on Arab Citizens’. MEMO […]

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Daily Mail investigation targets “Campaign of Hate on Campus”

Today, the Daily Mail published a four page investigation into extremist speakers on campuses, focusing on the pro-terrorist group CAGE’s campaign to undermine Government counter-radicalisation measures. The Mail reported that there were at least 13 on-campus events last term which featured officials from CAGE; most often the group’s Outreach Director Moazzam Begg. They argue that […]

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NUS campaign materials endorse extremist groups

Today, activists from the National Union of Students (NUS) Welfare Campaign and NUS Black Students’ Campaign are taking part in a “national day of action” against Prevent, the government counter-radicalisation policy. Part of an ongoing effort to undermine attempts to challenge extremism on campus, this follows a number of events on the issue which have […]

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