Student union to defy ban on Islamist debate

Student leaders at Middlesex University last night vowed to go ahead and host a debate with the controversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir despite their university’s ban on the meeting.

The Middlesex vice-chancellor, Michael Driscoll, yesterday ordered the union to cancel the question and answer session – scheduled to take place later this month – following a call from the education secretary last week for a crackdown on extremism on campus.

Today the student union said it would continue with the debate, but move it from a university building to its own student union.

Guardian, 20 September 2005