Teaching About Terrorism: University of Hertfordshire

Teaching About Terrorism is a 2009/10 research project funded by C-SAP, one of the Higher Education Academy's subject networks. The project aims to research the extent and nature of teaching about terrorism in UK Universities, primarily in the disciplines of Sociology, Politics and Criminology.

Freedom of Information Request 1

• Does your institution provide any information or advice to students or staff on any potential liability under terrorism legislation?

The University does provide guidance but in more general terms than through a specific Policy. The University has a number of Policies on Data access and security which can be found on our website, the most useful ones relating to your request are as follows: Internet/ Intranet based information systems; Learning Resources (specifically section 4. Conditions applying to Access and Use)

• Does your institution have any kind of procedure to review or assess reading lists, module descriptors or other teaching materials which explicitly or in practice considers questions of safety and risk under terrorism legislation as part of its remit?

All of our course materials are in the public domain; this acts as a safety mechanism. No student would be presented with materials that he or she could not access before the module started. All details relating to courses are available on our website here. We have a number of processes and procedures for ensuring Academic Quality but no one which is specifically related to Terrorism. Our Academic Quality Policy is available here

• Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation?

We have considered your response and in the light of this advice our response is to neither confirm or deny that the information is held in relation to Section 23(3) Information Supplied by, or concerning, Certain Security Bodies; Section 24(2) National Security; Section 31(3) Law Enforcement and Section 38(2) Health and Safety. We have taken into account the advice issued by ACPO in relation to previous requests relating to terrorism activity. The University of Hertfordshire neither confirms nor denies that it holds any of the information requested. To give a statement of the reasons why neither confirming nor denying is appropriate in this case could itself involve the disclosure of exempt information. The University of Hertfordshire has determined that the public interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to neither confirm nor deny outweighs the public interest in confirming whether or not information is held. This should not be taken as confirmation or denial that the University of Hertfordshire does or does not hold information requested.

• Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for 'preventing violent extremism' as recommended for example in the government guidance document 'Promoting Good Campus Relations'.

The University is in receipt of the guidance referred to in your question and we constantly encourage good campus relations and work with the University of Hertfordshire's Student Union on this. In response to your request for policies, procedures etc. we believe a response is exempt for the reasons quoted in Q3 above. You may find it useful to read our Freedom of Speech Policy, available here.

Resources

• Freedom of Information Results, Teaching About Terrorism: FOI Results
• University of Hertfordshire, Teaching About Terrorism FOI 1, Scribd