On the 7th November the Student Council was presented with three important motions; a motion to provide a statement of solidarity with Occupy Galway, a motion supporting a No Platform ban by the SU, and a motion regarding how SU officers present at SU council. After discussion, all three motions were passed.
The No Platform motion proposed that the SU will be mandated to automatically oppose any invitation to members of listed organisations to speak at this university. SU officers shall be prohibited from sharing a public platform with members of the listed organisations. Organisations are to be added and removed by ballot at class reps council. The listed organisations included the BNP, The National Front, Combat 18, Column 88, MPAC Ireland and Hizb ut – Tahir. After a short discussion on the motion, it was passed with an overwhelming majority of 55 – 2.
The idea of a No Platform policy originated in the United Kingdom, where it has been adopted into the Constitution of the National Union of Students; it was instituted in the 1990s to prevent members of the BNP to stand for SU elections. Some universities have decided not to endorse this policy, including the University of East Anglia and the University of Bath; the University of Durham disaffiliated from the NUS in 2010 after a cancelled multiculturalism event involving two BNP speakers led to thousands of students joining an internet campaign dubbed 'Durham University Students for Freedom of Speech'.
Essentially the policy proposes to ban members of fascist and/or racist organisations from speaking on the NUIG campus. Will O'Brien, Equality Officer, who proposed the motion, says that such a policy is essential in Ireland because 'we don't have a far-right extremist wing, and we need to do everything we can to maintain this.' He commented, 'Nothing good comes from it, it destroys countries and takes decades to get rid of.'
Dealing with accusation that such a policy violates free speech, Will said that the platform being denied is not a right but a privilege. 'It is not an entitlement for everybody. Fascism and racism are fundamentally opposed to democracy, and simply are incapable of being part of the democratic conversation.' He is adamant that it is of vital importance that such ideas be refused admission to campuses, as they bring nothing but damage and ruin.
At the Class Rep meeting, one student raised questions about how the No Platform policy connected to the idea of tolerance that is purported to be of paramount importance in today's society. She said, 'How far will this idea of banning certain speakers and organisations go? On the university campus of all places, are we not professing to provide a marketplace of ideas, free discourse and discussion? Instead of banning certain groups, we should educate students against them and then encourage them to protest and express their beliefs; instead of forbidding, we should promote the opposite to facism and racism in such a way that students will see absolutely no attraction in such ideologies. In facilitating our version of tolerance we need to be careful we are not becoming intolerant.'
A survey carried out by SIN after the meeting amongst students revealed that out of 154 students, 96% reported that their class reps had not consulted them concerning the motion. 48% said they would have voted against the No Platform proposal, which is sizeable advance on the 3.6 % who voted No at the Council meeting. One class rep reported that he received the motions on the day of the vote and did not have time to consult his class. Other reps did not receive the motions at all and were only introduced to them at the meeting.
These results put a question over the way in which the SU is carrying out its duties respecting class reps and correct student representation. There are clear administration difficulties as well as problems guaging correctly the opinion of the whole student body. The No Platform policy is a very important issue and requires substantial consideration and debate, which it unfortunately has not received in this instance.
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