An anti-extremist group claims radical Islamists have spoken at 180 events at 60 British universities in the past year. Student Rights also said a quarter of the student union society events it scrutinized promoted separate seating for men and women.UK universities say they work with student bodies to balance freedom of speech and upholding the law. But Students Rights claims a new generation of "extremist" speakers are touring campuses to spread their brand of Islam. This included those who had made racist or intolerant comments, including inciting violence or encouraging people to look at video clips of terrorist activity.
It highlighted 277 events promoted in UK and Irish universities where gender segregation was alluded to. Six of the events were subsequently cancelled, and two institutions have since announced investigations into the segregated meetings.
Director of the self-styled campus watchdog Raheem Kassam said that university authorities were not addressing these trends. He said with many of these speakers' views being well-documented, "a little Google search about what these guys are speaking about would not hurt anybody."