Judith,
Thanks for this. Very useful.
Nick.
At 10:16 26/09/01 +0100, you wrote:
>The Islamic Society wrote a letter to us strongly
>condemning the attacks in US , advising their sisters not
>to go out on their own after dark and to contact them if
>there is any hassle. The last paragraph talked about the
>good and supportive relationship they had with the Uni etc.
>It is about to be published in the staff/student newspaper.
>I think the fact that we are publishing it speaks for
>itself. Also we are having security cameras put around the
>prayer huts and security staff will be in the vicinity
>during prayers.
>
>The University has made no statement of its own as the very
>nature of our university and its ethnic diversity means
>that the students have always mixed and we've always had a
>zero tolerance policy on racism. One of my Freshers Team
>last week was scared to come in on the Monday due to
>attacks on Muslims last weekend but we got her in on
>Tuesday and offered to arrange lifts home for her.
>
>The Chaplain also gave a talk to the International Students
>about tolerance and the nature of the University - rather
>appropriate since 100 of the students were American and a
>large proportion muslim!
>
>As yet we've had no problems but it is Freshers on Friday
>and we have put security staff in place in case we get
>leafleted on the pavement by outside extremists. We have
>made it clear to all societies involved that we will remove
>offensive material and anyone not assigned to a stall will
>be thrown out if they are found leafleting regardless of
>what the material says - as its licensed premises we can do
>this without a reason.
>
>The pigs heads outside the mosque is an awful thing to do -
>none of this seems to be getting reported in the press.
>We've heard that muslim woman were surrounded at docklands
>last week and had their veils pulled off. There have also
>been sikhs attacked in the area because the public are just
>plain stupid.
>
>Channel 4 rang us last Friday investigating whether
>we had any cults in the university - not difficult
>to see where that programme is going - we told them
>none at all and told them to ring the press office - the
>last thing we all need is a programme on Unis. Fingers
>crossed for all of us that any trouble is not instigated by
>students.
>
>
>On Wed, 26 Sep 2001 09:42:24 +0100 Nick Givens
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>> Several colleagues here have reported that some of the Muslim postgraduate
>> students whom they are supervising are fearful of a backlash against them;
>> gfor instance, some wives of Muslim students are afraid to go out of their
>> homes (you may have read that ten severed pigs heads were put outside
>> Exeter Mosque last week).
>>
>> have any of your institutions done anything explicit to reiterate that
>> Muslim students are weclome and valaued, and to make it clear to the whole
>> student/staff body that harassment remains unacceptable?
>>
>> nick.
>>
>> Lecturer in Education,
>> School of Education,
>> University of Exeter,
>> Heavitree Road,
>> Exeter,
>> EX1 2LU,
>> England.
>> tel (44) 1392 264869
>> fax (44) 1392 264792
>
>----------------------
>Judith Baines
>Student Liaison and Development Manager
>Student Support Services
>University of North London
>166 Holloway Road
>London N7 8DB
>tel 020 7314 4212 (internal extension 4066)
>fax 020 7753 5788
>[log in to unmask]
>
Lecturer in Education,
School of Education,
University of Exeter,
Heavitree Road,
Exeter,
EX1 2LU,
England.
tel (44) 1392 264869
fax (44) 1392 264792
|