Dear All,
A few thoughts on principles for implementation policy that should be pursued:
1) Vetting processes should be designed in such as way that it does make having exterior speakers difficult because linking education to professionals and the community is a important university goal.
2) Any process must be RAPID. Although many guest speakers are planned well in advance, some are opportunistic with only a few days notice.
3) Any process should NOT be an APPROVAL process, but a process that allows for administrative INTERVENTION (seeking more information about the speaker and potentially preventing appearance after appropriate discussion with those inviting the speaker about the rationale and conditions of the appearance). Providing administrative approval power for every speaker infringes on control of faculty over pedagogy.
4) Providing basic information the name, position/affiliation, and topic of the guest speaker should not onerous (most of us already do this for publicity purposes anyway) and it helps show administrators our public engagement. If greater information and paperwork is required for all invitations, it will become a bureaucratic and costly and bureaucratic process.
Robert
Prof Robert G. Picard, MA (Oxon), PhD, FRSA
Reuters Institute
Department of Politics and International Relations
University of Oxford
Oxford OX2 6PS United Kingdom
________________________________________
From: Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Natalie Fenton [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2015 09:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Prevent and University implementation of Home Office policy
Dear all,
Thank you to Alexis and Julian for raising this.
Just to reassure everyone that MeCCSA is well aware of the article in the Independent and are formulating a response.
Please do continue to make particular institutional interpretations of Prevent legislation known and we will discuss the issue at the Annual Conference in January
All best
Natalie
(Chair, MeCCSA)
On 3 Dec 2015, at 12:53, Julian Petley wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Following on from Alexis' worrying e-mail, I'd like to draw your attention to this equally worrying story in the Independent:
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/young-people-who-question-government-policy-or-the-media-may-be-extremists-officials-tell-parents-a6756086.html
>
> Among other things this states that ‘Parents and carers have also been advised by the safeguarding children board in the London Borough of Camden that “showing a mistrust of mainstream media reports and a belief in conspiracy theories” could be a sign that children are being groomed by extremists’. As Bella Sankey of Liberty quite rightly observes in the article: 'Children should be encouraged to take an interest in politics and think critically about what they see in the media, not deemed suspect for so doing. The piece also quotes from an open letter about Prevent which some of us signed recently:
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/prevent-will-have-a-chilling-effect-on-open-debate-free-speech-and-political-dissent-10381491.html
>
> This kind of initiative stems from two sources. The first is child protection, but child protection of a very particular kind (i.e. that which wanted the vetting of writers who visited schools, or parents who took other people's children to school in their cars). The second source, obviously, is the kind of thinking which has given rise to Prevent. The result is something which has deeply worrying implications for anyone who teaches about the British media - and particularly if they take a critical line on how the media represent Muslims, how the media represent government policy on the Middle East, terrorism and radicalisation, and the relationship between the media and government (which, in the specific case of the Murdoch media and the government looks, suspiciously like a form of conspiracy, at least in my view).
>
> If anyone has any examples of this kind of thing happening in their area, I'd be very interested in hearing about it. And if this is happening across the country (which I suspect it is) is this not something about which MeCCSA should be taking a stand?
>
> Best, Julian.
>
>
> Julian Petley
> Professor of Screen Media
> T +44 (0) 1895 265479
> Connect with me on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook
>
> Brunel University London
> College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences,
> Department of Social Sciences, Media and Communications.
> Gaskell Building, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
> T +44 (0) 1895 274000 | F +44 (0) 1895 232806
> www.brunel.ac.uk
>
> Connect with the university on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alexis Weedon
> Sent: 03 December 2015 08:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Prevent and University implementation of Home Office policy
>
> Dear MeCCSA
>
> I am writing to ask if MeCCSA list members could share their University's policy or actions on the implementation of the Home Office guidance on PREVENT.
>
> At the University of Bedfordshire we have a new policy (circulated 1 Dec) on eternal speakers/visitors which is the subject of my concern. It requires all guests to be centrally approved and may 'grant permission for the activity to proceed but declare it 'public', thus permitting a police presence' or 'refuse permission for the activity to take place if it appears that it could give rise to, or incite those attending to commit, a criminal act' (or as a concerned colleague rephrased it 'those attending'
> being innocent).
>
> Journalism is part of my school and the ability to interview external speakers and invite in speakers from all sides of a debate is essential to learning ethical and responsible reporting. I wonder a) whether colleagues in MeCCSA have university policies which are comparable, b) what is current practice in Universities and c) whether the subject association has - or could formulate - a view.
>
> It may be a point worth of discussion at the upcoming conference.
>
> I would be grateful to hear your views and understand your policies so I can reflect on the practice as it effects (or perhaps doesn't) the school here.
>
> Alexis
>
> ----
> Professor Alexis Weedon
> UNESCO chair in New Media Forms of the Book Head of Department Journalism and Communications Co-editor Convergence: The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies University of Bedfordshire Luton Campus, Park Square Luton LU1 3JU
> -----
> Convergence submissions online http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/convergence
> -----
>
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> This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
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Natalie Fenton
Professor of Media and Communications
Co-Director Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre
Co-Director Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
London SE14 6NW
T: +44(0)20 7919 7620
http://www.gold.ac.uk/media-communications/staff/n-fenton/
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This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
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MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education.
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html).
Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list.
For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
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