University concerns force terror law rethink
Staff from universities across the UK have prompted the Government to table amendments to new anti-terror law, after expressing fears that the legislation would criminalise academic debate. As reported in The Oxford Student last term, university librarians and tutors expressed concern over the possibility of censorship, after a clause was included in the laws that forbade incitement to terrorism.
It was feared that this would criminalise tutorial discussions on the Middle East and other volatile areas. Following complaints by the Society for College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), and a committee of MPs and members of the House of Lords, possible amendments to the bill were tabled by the government.
The section designed to prevent the training of terrorists will be amended to ensure that university librarians, tutors, and professional scientists will not face prosecution for lending or lecturing material potentially useful to terrorists unless they know, rather than just suspect, that the student involved has malign intentions. Minutes from meetings of library curators show that Oxford staff are most concerned that the legislation could hinder freedom of access to information.
Universities are still concerned that staff could face the risk of prosecution. Ronald Milne, Acting Director of Oxford University Library Services, told The Oxford Student, “An amendment which ensures that the offence specified in the Bill embodies the concept of intent to encourage or assist terrorism, so librarians are not unnecessarily exposed to the risk of prosecution, would go some way to addressing our concerns.
“Although the Government has offered a welcome concession, by strengthening the statutory defences available to librarians, we are convinced that we remain unnecessarily exposed to the risk of prosecution. “As they currently stand, the Bill’s provisions seem to inhibit the study and understanding of terrorism in… universities."
12th Jan 2005