Teaching About Terrorism: University of Cumbria

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

According to the response of this University to the initial four part teaching terrorism FOI request, the answer to all four questions was 'no' . The four questions being:

• Does your institution provide any information or advice to students or staff on any potential liability under Terrorism legislation which might result from accessing materials for teaching or research?

We do not provide advice and guidance specifically on Terrorism legislation. There are some general provisions in the University’s Information Security Policy, available on the website here.

The following in particular may be relevant:- Para 3.2 (and also 17.4 re students) outlines the Internet Acceptable Use Policy and addresses what is allowed:

• Para 5.1 draws attention to general staff responsibilities
• Para 15 refers to the Emergency Response Procedure
• Para 18 outlines internal sanctions including notification of an illegal activity to appropriate authorities
• Para 19.2 describes legal requirements.

• 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?

We do not explicitly include safety and risk under terrorism legislation as part of our programme development, approval or monitoring procedures. However, it is very likely that such issues will be raised by individuals as part of these processes, particularly for particular programmes such as Policing, Law and Criminology.

• 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?

The University does not have a specific policy or procedure in place for dealing with these situations. Depending on the circumstances, the most relevant policies are likely to be the Disciplinary Policy (for staff) and Student Code of Conduct. There are available on the website here:-

• Disciplinary Policy
• Student Code of Conduct

• 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 document ‘Promoting Good Campus Relations’ was used to develop the latest version of the University’s Freedom of Speech Code of Practice. This is available on the website here

Resources

• Freedom of Information Results, Teaching About Terrorism: FOI Results
• University of Cumbria, Teaching About Terrorism; Cover E-mail, Scribd
• University of Cumbria, Teaching About Terrorism; Response to FOI 1, Scribd