UK Edition
The UK Government's counterterrorism strategy, known as Prevent, is harming free speech on campuses as students censor themselves to avoid suspicion, a report has found.
Academics from the country's leading universities claimed Prevent has reinforced negative stereotypes of Muslims on campuses.
It also found that the strategy has fostered "a culture of mutual suspicion and surveillance" and has the effect of discouraging free speech within universities.
The report – Islam and Muslims on UK University Campuses: perceptions and challenges – was led by researchers at SOAS University of London working with Lancaster, Durham and Coventry universities.
Researchers also found that students and staff self-censor their discussions to avoid becoming objects of suspicion and are sometimes discouraged from exploring, researching or teaching about Islam.
Furthermore, only a quarter of those surveyed said they feel entirely free to express their views on Islam within university contexts.
The report is based on the findings of an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded research project – Re/presenting Islam on Campus – undertaken between 2015 and 2018.
It provides the first nationwide picture and hard evidence of how the 230,000 Muslims (eight to nine per cent of the student population) experience life at UK universities and how their non-Muslim peers view them.
The project also included a national survey of 2,022 students across 132 UK universities as well as interviews and focus groups conducted with 253 staff and students at six higher-education institutions, including four universities and two Muslim colleges of higher education.
In the report, published on Tuesday, researchers said: "Attempts to monitor the behaviour of Muslims on UK campuses – both by Government agencies and by university management – have included some interventions that reinforce a general perception that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being infringed.
"Prevent appears to have the effect of discouraging free speech within universities.
"Students and staff tend to self-censor their discussions to avoid becoming the object of suspicion and are sometimes discouraged from exploring, researching or teaching about Islam, especially when linked to terrorism, fundamentalism or military conflict.
"Therefore, Prevent has the doubly damaging effect of sustaining negative stereotypes and disabling the mechanisms universities have for subjecting such stereotypes to critical scrutiny."
As part of the "Prevent Duty", higher education institutions are explicitly required to make it their responsibility to secure freedom of speech and pay particular heed to the importance of academic freedom.
The Government has long maintained that radicalisation is a problem in UK universities and that Prevent is an essential means of tackling it. However, the report reveals that students who agree with the Government line are more likely to express negative views about Islam and Muslims.
A Department for Education spokesman said: "The Government is committed to strengthening academic freedom and free speech in universities, so that they are places where debate thrives.
"Universities are required by law to uphold freedom of speech, allowing academics, students and visiting speakers to challenge ideas and discuss controversial subjects. The Prevent Duty explicitly requires this."