Student ban on extremists

| Tuesday, 27 November 2007 Source: This is Exeter

Exeter University students have voted to ban extremist groups from their campus.The "no platform" policy includes the extreme right wing British National Party and will last for three years.

Members of Exeter University's Students' Guild voted for the policy at their general meeting.

John Cox, welfare and equal opportunities officer, said: "As a union, we have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all of our members and provide a safe space for them to study.

"A student recently came to me in tears. They thought their institution was a safe space where the possible threat of fascism and racism didn't exist.

"This student wasn't the first with grave concerns, and most definitely was not the last.

"So the motion got written with an idea in mind: Union means unity, diversity shouldn't mean division.

"After the meeting, students came up to me expressing their relief that the motion had passed, and were all saying the same thing: we're glad we're safe. We're glad our friends are safe.

"We wouldn't invite them into our home and neither would we do it here."

Exeter students previously had a "balanced" platform policy, which meant those invited to meetings classed as unacceptable by the National Union of Students had to be given permission in an extraordinary general meeting.

There are more than 1,400 international students at Exeter and 100 members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual society.