”Groups like Student Rights serve on one purpose. They wish to divide society and roll back the clock on British social tolerance. It is imperative that we do not succumb to the ‘suit and tie’ Islamophobia and xenophobia that we would not entertain if the ones producing the report had jack boots and shaved heads. Islamophobia is wrong whoever does it.”
– Operation Black Vote, ‘Targeted?‘, 7 June 2013
‘Student Rights… counter-extremism agenda shares some aspects of the far Right’s framework about Islam and the Left. And…[SR] has taken liberties with its counter-extremism mandate,…In 2009, [it] criticised No Platform for fascism policies, claiming that it was ‘another example of Student Unions going beyond their role and limiting free speech on campus’. This has not prevented it from pursuing a No Platform policy not just for hate speech, but seemingly for any cause it dislikes.’
– Institute of Race Relations, ‘Far-Right Targets Islamic Events’, 4 April 2013
“…challenge the right wing bile that is spouted by by groups like Student Rights and people like Douglas Murray…”
– Liam Burns, NUS President 2011-2013 (March 2013)
“A witch hunt which makes sweeping judgments about student Islamic societies without knowing the details denies the women involved the very equality it claims to wish for them.”
– Pete Mercer, NUS Vice President for Welfare 2012-2013, (May 2013)
“Before I was an activist I didn’t see the Islamophobic agenda whipped up by Student Rights and almost accepted what they said”
– Sky Yarlett, NUS LGBT Officer 2013-14
“[Student Rights is] engaged in a smear campaign with regards to Muslims or even pro-Palestinian activism just because of their political beliefs…this will jeopardize the confidence of Muslim students to express a political view’
– Ibrahim Ali, FOSIS Vice President of Student Affairs 2013-14
“I think there’s an agenda against certain groups…there seems to be a constant push to monitor the way [Islamic societies] are behaving, the kind of events they’re running…which is fine but if [Student Rights] were applying the same standards to other religious groups then it would be easier to take it a bit more seriously. [Islamophobic?] I think we’ve got to call a spade a spade and that’s what it is.”
– Jay Stoll, LSE SU President 2013-14, Channel 4 News, December 2013
“The rhetoric of feminism has been co-opted by Islamophobes who could not care less about women.”
– Laurie Penny, ‘This isn’t feminism, it’s Islamophobia“, The Guardian, 22 Dec 2013
“It appears that Student Rights is now using gender as the new cloaked dagger to bash the Muslim community in an increasingly intolerant attempt to prove that Islam is incompatible with western society…The sad fact is that the more groups like Student Rights continue to complain about Muslims doing things ‘differently’ and being ‘the other’ – they only serve to convince others of their own intolerance and illiberal ways.”
– Reyhana Patel, Journalist and researcher, The Independent, May 2013
“Student Rights, supposedly a ‘non-partisan’ group, with its inextricable links to the hard-right Henry Jackson Society, an organisation who’s senior staff features Douglas “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder” Murray, has continuously sought to ramp up fears of campus extremism…has had a detrimental impact on the welfare of Muslim students by feeding into a pernicious campaign which increasingly demonises them, contributing to a climate of fear and suspicion of Britain’s 100,000 Muslim students who work tirelessly to build more inclusive and accepting campuses.”
– Mohamed Harrath, LSE Anti-Racism Officer 2012-13, Huffington Post, May 2013
“Student Rights have shown little interest in women’s rights (or LGBT rights for that matter) except where the offending party is Muslim…Student Rights is seeking to police, not ‘protect’ students and its activities should be seen as part of the ‘Cold War on British Muslims’. Its activities feed into an increasingly entrenched discourse of Islamophobia endorsed by much of the government and mainstream media.”
– Hilary Aked, PhD student and freelance writer and researcher, Huffington Post, May 2013
“The whole incident demonized us on campus…[Student Rights] by repeating a libelous media report in which we were named and falsely labeled anti-Semitic which tarnished our reputations and damaged my student union election campaign. It made us all feel threatened just for standing up for Palestinian rights.”
– Jade Doswell, Brunel University law graduate, quoted in Electronic Intifada, November 2013
“‘Student Rights’ is not as it wishes to appear. It purports to be a students group aimed at tackling extremism on campus. However, in reality, it spends most of its time attempting to build its narrative with little actual basis. Moreover it has no student members, nor any affiliation with any student union…We think they make life harder for Muslim students on campus and that they actively foster Islamophobia. They offer the student movement nothing.”
– Soren Goard, Goldsmiths SU Education Officer, December 2013
‘If Student Rights wants to play a positive role in contributing to more inclusive and cohesive campuses, they ought to have a radical rethink of their approach’
– Rayhan Uddin, LSE SU Anti-Racism Officer 2013-14 and Mohamed Harrath, The Beaver, December 2013
Petition signees:
‘We need to protect the right to protest and intelligent debate. Stop propagating a hate campaign against Muslims. Wake up Universities you are supposed to be the brain of Britain. Think!’ – Samina, Slough
‘They are dangerous and extremely misleading. Their articles quote out of context and it is clear this is nothing but disinformation with an agenda.’ – Faisal, Nottingham
‘Groups like ‘Student Rights’ contribute to the media echo-chamber that demonises Muslim students, in the midst of the racist and jingoistic messages coming from the government.’ – Jack, Edinburgh
‘”Student Rights” seeks to censor and target anyone that has an opinion that falls foul to their own. “Student Rights” is not aiming to protect my welfare, but is rather aiming to strip me from my fundamental rights as human being.’ – Amy-Aalimah, Luton
Students for Real Student Rights 