Last
updated: 27/09/05
Students
meet to defend suspended SU president
Students
at Middlesex University met today in support of the president of their
student union who was suspended for refusing to cancel a debate with
the controversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
SU president
Keith Shilson refused to cancel a question-and-answer session with the
group, he was suspended and escorted from the campus by security staff
last week.
The move by the university's vice-chancellor Michael Driscoll to ban
the debate came days after the education secretary, Ruth Kelly, told
vice-chancellors they would have to play a part to tackle 'extremism
on campus'.
The president of the National Union of Students, Kat Fletcher, wrote
to the vice-chancellor last week after the move heightened fears among
student unions around the country about the implications for unions'
independence.
A spokeswoman for the NUS said, "This interference in students'
unions is counter to everything we stand for and it must be challenged."
Representatives from the NUS, the lecturers' union Natfhe and Stop the
War attended The Defend the Right to Speak on Campus event at Middlesex's
Trent Park campus on September 27.
Mr Shilson did not attend the event as he is not currently allowed on
university property.
The university said it was not aware of the meeting and said it had
no further comment to make.
He has been suspended as a student, rather than from his official post,
but this prevents him from carrying out his job as president. He is
to meet university officials for a disciplinary hearing on the morning
of Friday September 27.
Mr Shilson told the Guardian, "I feel that I've got a good chance
of being reinstated because I don't believe the university has the right
to do what it's doing. I'm hoping for the best."
Imran Waheed, a media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said:
"These McCarthyist tactics are reminiscent of those used on campuses
in the dictatorships of the Muslim world such as Uzbekistan and Egypt.
"In silencing legitimate and peaceful political debate on campus
the university is demonstrating the worst form of extremism. All people
of conscience should recognise the principled stand of Keith Shilson
and demand his immediate reinstatement."
Prime Minister Tony Blair is considering proscribing the group Hizb
ut-Tahrir as part of the government's crackdown on extremism.
