National Union of Students’ campaign has become a 'vehicle for extremist interests', report warns
A National Union of Students’ (NUS) campaign has become a “vehicle for extremist interests”, a report has warned.
The “Students not Suspects” campaign, which has been part of NUS policy since 2015, encourages universities to rally against the Government’s flagship counter-radicalisation policy Prevent.
But according to the Henry Jackson Society, a counter-extremism think tank, the campaign has led to the NUS partnering with a number of questionable organisations.
“Under the pretence of wanting to abolish Prevent, leading ‘Students Not Suspects’ activists have hosted extremist speakers at a series of unbalanced events,” the report said.
“Many of them belong to organisations that have Islamist links and troubling histories of intolerance and sympathy for terrorism.”
In March 2015, the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (CTSA) imposed a statutory duty on universities and other public bodies, requiring them to pay “due regard to the need to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism”.
The bill faced a backlash from the NUS which said it would “not engage” with the strategy, adding that it would “encourage Unions and institutions to not comply with or legitimise” Prevent.
The NUS claimed that Prevent sought “to monitor and control Muslim students” and forced academic staff to spy on students.
The report concludes that the Students Not Suspects campaign, "if left unchecked, threatens to undermine the work of Prevent coordinators" and leaves students exposed to extremist speakers and organisations.
The author of the report, Richard Black, said: “While the NUS’s ‘Students Not Suspects’ campaign has not succeeded in its overall aim of ‘scrapping’ Prevent, it has encouraged numerous student unions to pass motions boycotting the policy.
“It has spread misinformation and betrayed students, staff and local authorities. Far from moderating its message, ‘Students Not Suspects’ has also developed ever closer links to extremist organisations.
"This divisive campaign continues to alienate moderate students and further undermines the credibility and legitimacy of the NUS amongst government, policy makers and wider civil society.”
An NUS spokesperson said: “The government’s counter-terrorism Prevent strategy is fundamentally flawed, repressive and racist. The implementation of the strategy across education institutions relies on racial profiling, making Muslim students in particular a common suspect.
"NUS’ Black Students’ Campaign and Women’s Campaign started the Students Not Suspects campaign out of the need to help students and students’ unions campaign against the Prevent agenda and lobby policy makers to scrap this racist and ineffective strategy."
The spokesperson said that the Students Not Suspects campaign seeks to educate people about "the realities of Prevent, the stifling of academic freedom" and fight the "climate of fear and suspicion" that it creates.
