Kingston University’s students’ union has banned the OTC, RAF, Royal Navy, TA and Army from their University campus.
The KUSU has prohibited any military groups from promoting themselves at freshers’ fairs or the campus in general. This came after a motion from the KUSU stating that it believes, “British troops should be withdrawn immediately from Iraq and Afghanistan”. This now means that the Kingston University campus will be a “military-free zone” for the next three years. According to the website www.indymedia.org.uk during the KUSU’s Annual General Meeting students debated over, “economic conscription”, Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This then led to the majority agreeing to ban the military from their campus.
Kingston’s military ban follows a series of protests aimed at the presence of the military on campus. Protesters vandalised the University Royal Naval Unit’s stall at the Fresher’s fair earlier this term. The group of clowns, who squirted paint and threw glitter over the stall, did so as a protest against the Iraqi war. More recently at the Graduate fair, army recruiters had a list of potential students, who wanted to join the armed forces, stolen from their stall.
