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.
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