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Whatever happened to free speech? The NUS is urging Matthew Boulton College, Birmingham, to reinstate two students who were this week suspended for criticising their college in a newsletter. According to NUSonline, Assed Baig and Darrell Williams were asked to leave the college after distributing a student-run newsletter ‘The Guerilla' which criticised the college's failure to provide formal student representation and the decision to prevent religious student groups on campus. The article asks "whether the college is ‘aware that they are in breach of Human Rights Act of 1998, article 11, which states that everyone has ‘the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.'" Despite support from the National Union of Students (NUS), lecturers' trade union NATFHE and others, the students remain suspended. Due to this, the students have been unable to hand in their applications to the University College Admissions Service (UCAS) and may therefore miss out on a university place as result. NUS Black Students' Officer Pav Akthar told NUSonline: "Students have a right to organise, to express their views on political questions and to criticise their institutions policies and practices. These students were acting entirely within their rights and should not have been suspended. This suspension comes at a crucial time for university applications and could seriously jeopardise their chances of finding a place for next year. We urge the college to reconsider and allow the students to continue their studies." The NUS has now launched an online petition in support of the students, has written to the college principal and will urge other student activists to do the same. |
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