Prevent strategy updated at Warwick University

Last week, following the earlier release of an initial action plan, Warwick University updated its implementation strategy for the government’s Prevent policy.

Prevent, a core component of the Home Secretary Theresa May’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, is primarily aimed at young people and the education system, with one of its foremost goals being to “prevent radicalisation and stop would-be terrorists from committing murder.”

The policy has been mired in controversy since its inception, with delegates at the recent National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference in Brighton backing a motion that called for it to be scrapped.

Warwick University’s initial action plan for Prevent, however, outlined a consideration of “the feasibility of adopting proactive filtering software so that the University network cannot be used for viewing any material of a radical/extremist nature,” and an assurance that “vulnerable individuals are not at risk of being proselytised/radicalised.”

One of its foremost goals being to “prevent radicalisation and stop would-be terrorists from committing murder.”

Recently though, the plan has undergone change. As the Students’ Union (SU) Postgraduate Officer Nat Panda highlighted in a Facebook post, the University’s updated plan rejected the “desirability, let alone the feasibility, of implementing a proactive filtering system”.

The new plan, which has now been submitted to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), assured students that the University “works closely with the leaders of our multi-faith communities”.

The update was also accompanied by a blog from vice-chancellor Stuart Croft. In perhaps one of his first challenges as vice-chancellor, Mr Croft championed free speech at Warwick, outlining the importance of the need to “continually challenge current thinking, within the law, to have a positive impact on our society”.

He added: “At Warwick we have always had a strong ethos on safeguarding with proactive teams and individuals providing frontline support to students such as personal tutors, student support, and our residential life team. Our training focus will continue to be on those frontline staff… to help them support our students.”

Warwick Anti-Racism Society explained that they are “incredibly worried” by the Prevent strategy

Mr Croft’s reassurances have not allayed the concerns of all, however. Warwick Anti-Racism Society explained that they are “incredibly worried” by the Prevent strategy, remarking that “there appears to have been next to no dialogue around the policy,” that it is “poorly thought out,” and “is simply racial profiling.”

The society also took issue with the University’s handling of the policy. Lamenting the “troublesome” response from Warwick, they continued: “It is no surprise that students and staff are working together to defeat this racist and ineffective policy – and we hope to see this pressure escalate.”

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Read more: Condemning Prevent