Freedom includes T-shirts, students say

Told to cover up cartoons of Jesus, Muhammad

Atheist students at one of Britain’s top schools were ordered to cover up their T-shirts printed with cartoons of Jesus and Muhammad because of fears they might be offensive.

Abishek Phadnis and Chris Moos, members of the Atheist, Secularist & Humanist Student Society (ASH), claim their right to free expression was curtailed following the dispute at the London School of Economics.

The head of security and a member of the LSE’s legal and compliance team told the students they were creating an “offensive atmosphere” by wearing the Tshirts at a societies’ fair for new students. Wearing the T-shirts could constitute “harassment,” the British newspaper The Independent reported. They said there had been complaints from other students.

The T-shirts featured char- acters from a webcomic, Jesus and Mo.

The two men did as asked, but said later they were not trying to harass other students.

“As much as we respect and defend the rights of others to wear whatever they choose to wear, we claim this right for ourselves,” they said in a statement.

“Our right to free expression and participation in the LSE student community is being curtailed for no other reason than that we are expressing views that are not shared by others.”

The students’ union, which organized the fair, defended the school’s actions.

“Two students from the LSE SU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (ASH) wore T-shirts that were clearly designed to depict Muhammad and Jesus in a provocative manner,” it said in a statement.

“The Students’ Union, which runs the event, received a number of complaints from other students, The SU asked the students to cover the Tshirts in the interests of good campus relations. The society remained free to share their literature and views.” In a comment in The Daily

Telegraph, Richard Dawkins, the author and atheist, lam- basted the LSE officials as “sanctimonious little prigs.”

“I’m ‘ offended’ by backward baseball caps, c he wing gum, niqabs, ‘basically’ and ‘awesome.’ Quick, LSE Student Union, ban them all.”

Stephen Evans of the National Secular Society said, “There is something very disturbing abut the curtailing of free speech on university campuses simply on the grounds claimed of offence.

“Being offended from time to time is the price you pay for living in an open and free society,” he told The Independent.

“If any religion is off limits for open debate, we are in a very dangerous situation.”

Puzzlingly, LSE officials do not have objections to the T- shirts being worn at another event at the school.

Maryam Namazie, spokeswoman for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, who will appear at the LSE at a debate on the burka next week, has pledged to wear one of the T-shirts, and called on the audience to wear one too.

But LSE said they would have no issue with the T-shirts being worn at the debate, because it would have a completely different intention and atmosphere.

“The event is quite different to the Freshers’ Fair, which must be accessible, inclusive and welcoming and which was in danger of being disrupted.”