Last
updated: 03/03/08
Bath
says no to ‘No Platform’
A
No Platform policy has been rejected in a student vote at the University
of Bath.
In a landslide victory for the ‘no’ camp, 619 out of the
785 votes cast in the University of Bath Students’ Union referendum
were against the policy. 158 people voted for the policy with eight
people abstaining.
The policy was put forward to allow the students’ union to react
more swiftly to controversies like the one surrounding a proposed visit
by British National Party leader Nick Griffin to the campus last year.
Griffin was invited to speak at the university by students.
The university cancelled the event, following huge pressure from students
and the University and College Union, citing security issues.
Many students felt that a concrete No Platform policy would give the
students’ union executive too much power.
It was also argued that such a policy would hinder freedom of speech
at the university.
Media outlets of the students’ union were particularly concerned
about the potential impact of the policy, and held an Emergency General
Meeting prior to the vote, at which they voted against the No Platform
policy.
Student members of campus media felt that the current students’
union Media Code of Conduct offers sufficient protection from extreme
voices.
The President of the Students’ Union, David Austin, was disappointed
with the result of the vote questioning ‘whether a diverse university
population should tolerate the views and give a platform to the views
of an organisation like the BNP.’
He added that this result means that “the union does not have
a formal process to decide to whom it gives and doesn’t give a
platform.”
He also said that this would now force the union to decide in a cumbersome
process on a case-by-case basis, as was the case when Nick Griffin was
invited to speak last year.
The issue is now closed and cannot be raised in a democratic forum within
the students’ union for one year.
Austin said that if a controversial speaker like Nick Griffin was invited
to speak on campus again, the event may still not go ahead.
“If a speaker like Nick Griffin was invited to speak at the University
again, I wouldn’t be too sure if the freedom of speech argument
would win the day, as it didn’t back in May,” he said.
by
Mark Wright
