Charity banned from university freshers fair
WARWICK Students’ Union has refused to let an anti-abortion charity have a stand at its freshers fair.
The pro-life charity, which described the move as “a violation of the right to freedom of expression” and “wholly unacceptable”, says it has had applications for stands denied at three universities including Warwick. Charity bosses at Life have written a letter of complaint to the Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education in England.
It has asked the organisation for “a guarantee” that their presence at the campuses “will not be impeded in future”.
The charity’s director of education accused students’ unions of operating as “a law unto themselves” and criticised universities for not taking responsibility.
Warwick Students’ Union said it supports a “pro-choice stance” on the matter of abortion following a democratic vote and has no obligation to allow the charity on campus. The Office for Students said, although it “champions” freedom of speech at higher education institutions, their responsibilities extend to universities and not students’ unions.
A spokesperson for Warwick Students’ Union said: “The Students’ Union has a policy that was voted on by our members to support a Pro-Choice stance. In addition, we are under no obligation to allow external organisations to use our spaces, and as such are able to exercise the right to choose who we allow to exhibit on the premises.”
Anne Scanlan, director of education at Life, said: “Life has on many occasions been impeded in its right to freedom of expression on university campuses because of the actions of student unions some of which have adopted a proabortion policy.
“We had at least two serious confrontations with student unions at university freshers’ fairs last year with threats by them to make us leave the premises if we didn’t remove fetal models which we had on display.
“No university or institution on their campus should be allowed to discriminate against prolife students or prolifers in general. For too long, student unions have operated as a law unto themselves. Whilst universities provide lip service to the principle of free speech, on their campuses free speech is often impeded or blatantly violated by student unions. When it happens, universities remove themselves from any responsibility for this contradictory state of affairs. Last year our complaint to one university vice-chancellor about the way we were treated, received the response that this was a matter that needed to be dealt with by the student union.
“We now call on the Office for Students to give weight to its words by taking action to ensure student unions are not impeding freedom of expression and university campuses remain places of rigorous and healthy debate.”
In a reply to the letter sent by Life, Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said the organisation would be unable to intervene.
It read: “Although we are not aware of the circumstances relating to your specific applications to the Freshers’ Fairs, it is OfS’s view that organisations such as Life should be able to publicise its work and services to students. Our regulatory responsibilities extend to universities and not students’ unions. From the information in your letter, it would appear that your complaint relates to three students’ unions who rejected your application to exhibit at their Freshers’ Fairs. As students’ unions are generally regulated by the Charity Commission, we have no regulatory remit to intervene in the circumstances you describe at this stage.”