Campus Watch

Posted on by The Gryphon Web Editor

University of St Andrews, Scotland: One student suspended and six disciplined after ‘acid attack threat’

One student has been suspended and six disciplined after indirect threats made through a Facebook group chat. 

These threats were made to third-year female undergraduates at St Andrews University. Not only did they include threats about “murder” and “elaborate revenge”, the messages also talked about throwing battery acid in the victims’ faces, according to screenshots shown on Sunday. 

The victims told The Saint, after finding out about the threats, that they felt “scared and violated”, afraid to leave their flats alone. 

Originally the conversations were reported to the police. However, no criminal act had been committed so St Andrews University was left to deal with the punishments as they saw fit. 

One student was suspended and the other six were made to write letters of apology to the victims, while also undergoing an anti-bullying course.  

Freya Kerr

University of Oxford: Oxford college remove portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi from its main entrance 

The portrait was removed in response to the international criticism Aung San Suu Kyi received following the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.  

The decisions to remove the portrait was made by the governing body of the college.

Under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, over 400,000 Muslims from the Rohingya population of Myanmar have been displaced. The United Nations commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said “the whole situation seems like textbook ethnic cleansing”.  

Oxford also commented on the incident saying it “hopes the Myanmar administration, led by Oxford alumna Aung San Suu Kyi, can eliminate discrimination and oppression, and demonstrate to the world that Myanmar values the lives of all its citizens”. 

Aysha Zaheer

George Mason University, Virginia: Student dies after taking hallucinogenic drug and falling from fifth floor

A student at George Mason University died on Saturday after allegedly ingesting a hallucinogenic substance and falling from the window of his dormitory room, located on the fifth floor. 

The student was a 19-year-old sophomore, according to GMU spokesman Michael Sandler. The student’s name has not yet been released, and the university have declined to identify the hallucinogenic drug in question.

The incident occurred at the Potomac Heights residence hall around 4:40 p.m. on Saturday. The student was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

There is concern that others may be in possession of the same drug. These students have been encouraged to call campus police in the interest of safety, and will not be prosecuted if they decide to come forward. 

Christy Bucklow

University of Manchester: University censors title of Holocaust survivor’s speech criticising Israel’s treatment of Palestinians

When Israeli diplomats claimed that the title of the survivor’s speech amounted to anti-Semitic hate speech, the university have censored the name of Marika Sherwood’s talk, headlined: “You’re doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to me.”

The talk by the survivor of the Budapest ghetto had been organised by students, to speak as part of Israeli Apartheid Week in March about the treatment of Palestinians by the Israelis. An email from Michael Freeman, the embassy’s counsellor for civil society affairs, after a visit from the diplomats to Manchester in February, highlighted the breach of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-wsemitism.

Following this email, the event’s organiser, Huda Ammori, was informed that the title of the talk was not to be permitted, in light of its ‘unduly provocative nature’.

Sherwood claimed her talk’s heading could not be characterised as anti-Semitic, but the event went ahead with the title removed.

Beccy Hutchinson

University College London: London students to strike as accommodation becomes too expensive 

Students in London are preparing to strike because the cost of their accommodation has spiralled out of control.

It comes after 200 students at University College London successfully protested against the cost and condition of their halls earlier this year.

The students were granted £350,000 to fund accommodation bursaries.

Many students in London are disgusted with the conditions of their houses with live wires exposed, broken furniture and unsafe boilers, leaving them with no hot water.

Vice-President of Welfare at the NUS claims students are being taken
advantage of, stating: “It’s unacceptable for landlords to be offering students inadequate homes. More robust accreditation schemes are necessary, and we want to see local authorities enforcing adequate standards.”

William Marriott