NUS faces further challenge over anti-Semitism

Over the weekend, a feature in the Guardian examined how UK universities have been “urged to tackle [a] rising tide of antisemitism on campus”, interviewing students and documenting the spate of anti-Semitic graffiti previously reported by Student Rights. The piece included a quote from the National Union of Students (NUS) president, Malia Bouattia, in which […]

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Student Rights on-campus in Durham and Cambridge

On Thursday 26 January, Student Rights’ National Organiser, Elliot Miller, gave a presentation to the Atheist, Secular and Humanist Society (AHS) at Durham University, focusing on challenging extremism and the Prevent Duty. Angelos Sofocleous, President of the Durham AHS, speaking after the event, said it was: “A very insightful and informative talk. It has definitely […]

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Challenging Prevent at UCL

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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Student Rights in Brussels

Yesterday, Student Rights’ director, Rupert Sutton, spoke in Brussels at an event, hosted by the European Policy Centre (EPC), which sought to address the issue of jihadist radicalisation in schools, universities, prisons and mosques. He was joined on the panel by Muhammad Manwar Ali, Chief Executive of JIMAS, Rodrigo Ballester, the European Commissioner for Education, […]

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Student Rights at the University of Nottingham

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 […]

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Student Rights at Exeter Debating Society

Last Friday, Student Rights National Organiser Gray Sergeant spoke at the University of Exeter Debating Society on the motion ‘This House Supports No Platform Policies at University’. Here he outlines his opinion on the topic. On being invited to attend this debate, I spoke for the motion despite my increasing frustration with overzealous student unions […]

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The Prevent Duty on Campus – Reflections on First Term Experiences

On 21st September, a new statutory duty for universities to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” came into force. This gave institutions a legal requirement to put policies in place to challenge on-campus radicalisation and guarantee compliance with the government’s Prevent strategy. While universities have broadly accepted […]

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SOAS 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 […]

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