2.11.12
A senior NUS (National Union of Students) officer has attempted to censor Leeds Student, demanding an end to the distribution of it’s interview with the BNP Leader Nick Griffin. In an open letter issued on October 26, Aaron Kiely, NUS Officer for Black Students, stated “in publishing this interview the Leeds Student risks giving legitimacy to a fascist organisation […] We the undersigned demand the editor of the Leeds Student to reconsider this grave error and remove the interview”.
Editor-in-Chief Lucy Snow has since challenged Kiely’s censorship attempt, writing on the Guardian’s web site: “An encounter between a young, gay man and one of the most-hated homophobes in the world was too powerful to be censored […] people come to university to be challenged, not to toe the line of some over-arching organisation which is far removed from our every day campus lives.” She added, “It insults students’ intelligence to insist that they must be protected from extreme views.” The NUS maintains a ‘No Platform Policy’, forbidding any NUS officer from sharing platforms of debate with racist or fascist organisations. At the time of going to print Kiely’s letter was signed by 92 members students, three of which are currently studying at Leeds University. NUS President Liam Burns did not sign in support of the demand.
Writing on Wednesday, Burns appeared to contradict his Kiely’s stance stating that the NUS “cannot and should not attempt to compromise the independence and autonomy of our members by dictating to them, demanding or instructing that they follow a certain course of action.” Leeds University Union’s Affairs Officer Antony Haddley outlined the organisation’s own policy, writing in a public blog: “there is no specific provision in our policy against the printing of any interview with Nick Griffin in our student media”.
The move to censor the paper has drawn much criticism from across student media, with ‘The Cambridge Student’ newspaper citing the incident as another example of NUS attempting to “meddle in universities’ internal affairs”. In an open letter entitled ‘In Support of Free Speech’, the President and Chairman of the University of Surrey Students’ Union expressed their disappointment and concern at the NUS “attempt to stifle the freedom of press”.
They wrote: “The NUS is in no place to demand the removal of a well-written article that contravenes no laws”. During the interview, Griffin described homosexual relations between men as “creepy”, and suggested that “children will die” as a result of non-heterosexual marriages. Griffin is currently leader of the British National Party, a right-wing political organisation described as “Nazi thugs” by Prime Minister David Cameron. During the 2009 European elections, the BNP received over 100,000 votes for the North-East England region, electing Griffin as a Minister for the European Parliament.
Max Bruges