Government’s counterterrorism is limiting texts and topics students can access, experts say

‘We are entering a situation where thought becomes dangerous,’ one professor warns

University staff and students are self-censoring because of Prevent, academics say (PA)

A counterterrorism strategy has created a “culture of fear” across UK universities where freedom of expression and open debate is being stifled, experts and campaigners warn.

The government’s Prevent duty, which requires institutions to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”, is having a “chilling effect” on free speech on campus, critics say.

The warnings come as The Independent has learned that at least four different academic materials have been flagged at a university over the past two years in response to the counterextremism programme.

Under a University of Reading policy, students and staff are required to tell the institution if they plan to access texts that are potentially “sensitive” to avoid falling foul of Prevent.

So far, academics have requested student access for a left-wing essay on the ethics of socialist revolution, as well as access to the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla by a Brazilian revolutionary.

A student also logged their use of YouTube videos that support Palestinian political violence, while an academic requested access to terrorism databases for research.

The Independent has learned that staff at Glasgow School of Art discussed flagging up a students’ artwork on the geopolitics of the Middle East to the Prevent team.

The student had planned to give audience members warnings to the explicit content – which featured two Isis propaganda videos – but the school ruled that the installation could not be exhibited in full.

Meanwhile, a number of academics have been told by those working on Prevent that they cannot use certain books to teach about Islam.

Milestones, a book by Sayyid Qutb, a key figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, is one of the texts that tutors have been ordered not to use because it will “encourage radicalisation.”

And increasingly university staff and students are self-censoring because of Prevent, experts say. One criminology lecturer ran her course’s reading list past the police because she was worried about the content.

Meanwhile, Muslim students are increasingly avoiding modules on terrorism. One PhD student recently cancelled a conference on counterterrorism legislation citing fears of Prevent.

And academics say it is “common” for British Muslim students to avoid taking books which cover sensitive topics like Al-Qaeda out of the library despite being on their reading lists.

These latest examples follow a student at the University of East Anglia in 2015 being questioned by counterterrorism police after reportedly undertaking pro-Isis reading as part of a course.

Alison Scott-Baumann, a professor of society and belief at Soas, University of London, said: “We are entering a situation where thought becomes dangerous.

“Students are the future of democracy and if we do not encourage them to openly debate these difficult issues – how are they going to manage the world when they have finished at university?’’

Ms Scott-Baumann, who is working on a major project on Islam and UK higher education, knows of university staff who have been told they cannot use books because they may radicalise students.

“There’s absolutely no evidence that would be the case. In fact, if anything it would allow students to have an opportunity to interrogate traditional approaches to Islam, as seen in Milestones, and look at some critiques from the west and learn from it,” she said.

Ms Scott-Baumann, a senior academic whose work involves researching free speech, said: “I’ve been told that students at some universities have protested, but without results. They have said, ‘Our tutor wants to use this book. We think it’s useful. It would inform us on this difficult subject’.”

In the wake of Prevent, more academics are looking themselves at the texts they ask students to study, according to Waqas Tufail, a senior lecturer in criminology at Leeds Beckett University

Dr Tufail, who wrote a recent report about Prevent, said: “I have heard anecdotally that lecturers are more concerned about their reading lists. Having spoken to colleagues, academics do feel pressure.

“Prevent and the Counter Terrorism and Security Act (2015) has created a culture of fear and confusion, and I think that within that there certainly could be more cases of academics who have been overzealous in altering their reading lists. They don’t want to fall foul of complying with Prevent.”

He warned that cases where lecturers are being overzealous in implementing Prevent “has real implications for academic freedom”.

A report published last week, from campaign group Index on Censorship, said Prevent “is encouraging a level of caution that is at odds with the positive duty to secure freedom of speech”.

The paper concludes that the government policy is “having a chilling effect on freedom of expression”.

The campaigners are calling for the Prevent duty to be reviewed immediately, and follows both the National Union of Students and the Joint Committee on Human Rights calling for a review.

A spokesperson for the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of higher education in England, said: “Universities and other higher education providers have a legal duty to safeguard their students from being drawn into terrorism.

“The OfS monitors universities’ compliance with the Prevent duty, and as part of this we expect them to put in place policies to manage security sensitive research where appropriate.

“Universities are also required to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law, and so their Prevent policies should be proportionate and risk based.”

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “Universities and their research continues to play a critical role in developing societal understanding of terrorism and solutions to tackle it, which will involve academics and researchers having access to numerous sources, including those of a security sensitive nature.

“Institutions remain spaces where students are exposed to many different views and encouraged to challenge received wisdom and develop their own opinions.”