Academy Award Winner urges tolerance

During the last month, Academy Award Winner Emma Thompson is quoted to have said that Exeter is very ‘white and middle class’ after her adopted Rwandan son, Tindyebwa Agaba, experienced racism in his first year at the university. He also alleges that the subject matter on his Politics and International Relations degree, when referring to the developing world, was inaccurate depicting it as diseased, war-ravaged and squalor-ridden.

Emma Thompson urges against racism and intolerance


Thompson said that BNP leader Nick Griffin would be comfortable living in Exeter due to its lack of racial diversity. The university said that they supported him whilst these problems emerged and noted that he went onto enjoy the remaining two years at Exeter. The International Student Barometer voted Exeter in the top five safest campuses for international students in the UK. A spokesperson from the university said that Thompson has spoken well about the universities efforts to encourage social cohesion and repel racism. Out of 18,000 staff and students there have been only five incidents of reported racism on campus this year. It goes without saying that there are bound to be many unreported incidents. Thompson, herself, has visited the University and led workshops and engaged in debates. She urged Exeter students to give themselves small goals to stamp out prejudices.

It seems easy to dismiss her view on the basis that it is just purely isolated incidents. She is right that people might think nothing can be done about encouraging a more racial diverse population at Exeter but small steps are achievable. A study published last month based on 1.8 million students living in the UK undertaken by the Equality Challenge Unit found that white students do better in higher education than their Asian or black peers.

A group of London Metropolitan University Muslim students were subjected to racist attacks in November, three people who tried to intervene were stabbed as a group of thirty black and white young people attacked the Muslim students. This followed an earlier attack of a Muslim on their way to a prayer room. The university described these incidents as isolated and police are said to be taking the attacks very seriously. Racist offences have gone up by 54% in the last year in Islington and have risen 6% across the capital.

Race equality needs to be addressed and without addressing it, racism could spread in universities and the attainment gap could continue to grow.

No to ‘no platforming’

For those who attended the Union General Meeting at LSE on 22nd October 2009, they witnessed the vote of a no platform policy for fascist organisations, mainly implicating the BNP. They also saw another example of Student Unions going beyond their role and limiting free speech on campus. Student Rights draws the line at violence and hate-speech, but this doesn’t tend to be the topic for most BNP members. It was argued that these groups would divide the LSE community and incite violence if they came to the campus.


The BNP is a legitimate political party that has won two seats in the European Election, has around 60 councilors in the UK and just under one million people voted for them across the UK. Freedom of speech regarding the BNP is a difficult line to tread, as by granting the extreme right an open platform it runs the risk of normalising racism or other extreme views. On the other hand excluding them from the mainstream public arena cultivates their views underground and falls back on claims that the democracy we live in is in actual fact undemocratic. The LSESU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Officer spoke out against the motion during the meeting and supported a full understanding of freedom of speech and argued that only through open debate would their views be addressed.

Student Rights believes that LSE students have the intellectual ability to scrutinise and assess the views of fascist organisations. This decision leads to isolate the student body who want to engage in this debate and do not want to be branded fascists. Free speech does not mean accepting all views as equally valid, to silence non-violent organisations would lead to silencing democracy.

Controversy at LSE for Israeli Foreign Minister

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon spoke at the LSE on the 26th October 2009. This would have served as a good opportunity for this controversial figure to discuss the content of his talk entitled, ‘The Situation in the Middle East: the view from Israel’. However a considerable amount of his 52-minute talk was spent being interrupted as his right to have the LSE platform was on debate.

The controversy that surrounded Ayalan’s visit was based on Israel’s recent conflict with Gaza and his personal membership of the Yisrael Beitaynu party, considered by some to be one of the more extreme parties in the government. Many students complained about the prestigious platform given to him by LSE although they did not actively campaign to deny him the freedom of speech elsewhere. Students and staff at LSE objected to the mass email promoting the event and have asked for justification for Ayalon’s invitation.

The Director of LSE Howard Davies vindicated the decision, in a letter to the Palestine Solidarity Initiative:

“The individual concerned is a senior member of an elected government of a state with which the UK has diplomatic relations. We were careful to ensure that he was prepared to take questions, that there would be no involvement by the Embassy or the Government in the selection of the audience, or screening of subjects for discussion. We received assurances on all those grounds.”

He went on to cite the School’s tradition of open debate and strong commitment to free speech. Students from such groups as the LSESU Palestine Society, the Palestine Solidarity Initiative, Jews for the boycott of Israeli goods and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network all protested at the talk. The right to protest and the right to freedom of speech are equally as important however it was reported that during the talk Ayalon was repeatedly heckled and not able to speak by some of the protesters. Davies invited the Palestinian societies to propose a speaker in the future to speak to the LSE who offer a different perspective on the prospect for peace in the Middle East.

The call to remove Ayalon from the LSE’s prestigious platform came soon after a recent LSE Student Union vote in favour of a motion to deny the BNP a platform to speak. From Student Rights experience, silencing organisations and individuals does not put an end to their views but rather leaves them publically unchallenged. We do after all, live in a democracy.from

Unshackled: UCL Union vote backs student’s rights

The UCL students who attended the first quorate UCL Union Welcome General Meeting on 8th October 2009 voted in a two-thirds majority to overrule a referendum taken last February, which voted for the Student Union to take sides on the Gaza-Israel conflict.

The Gaza-Israel conflict has galvanised the national student population, demonstrations have taken place up and down the country and students from at least eleven universities have occupied university buildings. Undoubtedly there will be some disappointed UCL students given their success from the Annual General Meeting this February. Yet this recent result, which sees the UCL Student Union return to a position which avoids disengaging, alienating or condemning students across the board. This vote does not lessen the right of any students or societies to campaign on issues that are important to them but seeks to neutralise the Student Union.

Heralded by the Pi Newspaper as progress for democracy as it was the first quorate UCL Union Welcome General Meeting. The number of students present is hoped to signify a move away from apathy and towards genuine interest in student issues. However this is a small step due to the number of students present being just 2% of the student body.

This result is an important decision for not only the UCL student body but also other universities’ Student Unions who have taken a similar road. It is hoped that Student Unions could leave international politics aside and focus instead on elements it was elected for such as student welfare.
from

Imperial College, here we come!

Tomorrow is our final Freshers fayre of the academic year at Imperial College London. Please come along to stall TR53 (The Tower Rooms) to sign up to our free mailing list and get some free merchanise!

Don’t be shackled

Our first campaign, ‘Don’t be shackled by politics on campus’ came about when we were thinking about what it is like to be on a university campus in a time where politics is the hot topic to debate for a lot of students. By no means are we advocating that you should ignore your political beliefs; we are saying you should embrace them and indeed stand up for them, but not be shackled by the idea of following the crowd or pander to so called fashionable political views. I am not condoning extreme groups who try and spread hate for their cause; what I am instead talking about the value of free and fair debate. One of the great things about university is that it is a place to debate ideas and beliefs, a place to deconstruct what your own views are, build upon them or change them. So when you are on campus, listen to other peoples’ views and calmly discuss your own; you never know, you might learn a lot off each other even if you initially thought you were diametrically opposed.

Discounts galore!

September 30th, 2009 Student Rights wants to help students with issues that matter to them as a student and we believe that one of the most important things to a students social life and budget is discounts and helping you to live for less. Below are some organisations that might be able to help…

From the mists of the internet comes Student Beans. A wonderful site which offers students great discounts at restaurants, pubs, cinemas. Think of it as the world’s largest and interactive coupon book.

The National Union of Students also offers an NUS Extra card which offers you discounts in loads of shops such as TopShop and Dorothy Perkins. Note though that just a bog standard student card issued for free when you register with your university will offer you most of the same discounts, and save you a tenner. Its still definitely worth a look at though.


Don’t forget to register for your Student Oyster card. It costs £5.00 and gives you 1/3 off on all monthy, weekly and yearly travel cards. However, it does not give you 1/3 off for day travel cards. To get this, you need to link your Young Persons rail card with it which you can get for free for 5 years when you open a student bank account with Natwest.

Back to the LSE

Its Student Rights first day at the LSE and a trip down nostalgia lane for me. I did my undergrad at LSE and I’m back to run our Freshers Fayre stand with my colleagues. I actually managed to get into my old Media Law class room for 9am for the first time, and ironically not for classes. Anyway, we are at LSE today so please do come along and sign up to our mailing list and collect some posters from our stall.
Helen
National Coordinator, Student Rights

External Advisory Board. Member profile: Dr Alan Mendoza.

Dr Alan Mendoza is a member of Student Rights External Advisory Board. In this role, and like all other members of our External Advisory Board, advice can be sought by Student Rights and there are opportunities for Alan to speak at our events and potentially on your campusus. Alan received his doctorate of from Cambridge University where he also studied his undergraduate and his Masters degree. He is currently the Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society. The Henry Jackson society is a non-partisan think tank which aims to promote democratic geopolitics. The Henry Jackson Society advocates a positive approach to the spread of liberal democracy. The society is supported by a broad scope of politicians as well as journalists and government officials such as the former Prime Minister of Mongolia.
Alan also used to host programmes on ‘18 Doughty Street;’ an Internet based broadcaster, which he also produced. Additionally, Alan is a councillor for the London Borough of Brent.
Alan’s belief in championing the principles of a liberal democracy is something that Student Rights strongly adheres to and we are honoured to have Alan as one of our members of the External Advisory Board.

Kings College London Freshers Fayres

Yesterday and today we were at Kings Fresher’s fayre signing up new people to our mailing list. After a busy day of signing people up we are really pleased at all the interest in our new organisation. Thank you to all of those who signed up. If you missed us, please sign up to our mailing list online. We also got chatting with the President of Kings College Student Union, Ryan, the President of ULU, Nizam and some NUS executives. All in all it was a busy day for the Student Unions in London. Next week Student Rights is even busier as we are going to LSE, ULU, UCL and SOAS. Look out for us on your campus!

Queen Mary’s Freshers Fayre and beyond…

Thanks to all of you who signed up to Student Rights at the Queen Mary’s Freshers fayre. For the next two days we will be at Kings College London signing people up to our mailing list, telling you about what we do and how we can help you on your campuses and giving out some free merchandise. Please come along and sign up!
Helen
National Coordinator. Student Rights

Refocusing universities on student issues

I just read this article online and am concerned about priorities…Universities need to get their priorities sorted so that they tackle issues that are more important to students.Did you know that if you are an international student or a postgraduate student, you are, on average, paying £70 per hour for contact time at university in London? With teaching standards in university plummeting, why is it that university administration is stressing about the political correctness of calling the chair of a committee a chairwoman, a chairman or a chairperson? Surely teaching standards, better quality halls of residence and more sports facilities are far more pressing matters?

Resources

Resources
The following list of websites, organizations and publications have been identified by youth researchers at Freechild. We have listed them in useful categories for young people and their adult allies. Click on the heading for resources.

Point to Ponder

Point to Ponder

"Ironically, children are unsafe in public schools today not because of exposure to drugs and violence, but because they have lost their constitutional protections under the Fourth Amendment." - Randall Beger in "Expansion of Police Power in Public Schools and the Vanishing Rights of Students." Social Justice 29(1/2) (2002): 119-130.

Student Rights Information

Intro
The Freechild Project has found that students across the United States and Canada are standing up and demanding the schools they deserve. Part of those schools include the rights that every person is guaranteed as a human. Court cases, civil rights organizations, and young people have defended these rights time and again, yet many schools do not honor students' rights, as learners, as citizens, or as humans. So young people continue to rally for the acknowledgement, protection, and support of their rights in school.