Pro-Palestine students have claimed that Cambridge deploys a “punitive security culture” in response to protest, amid rising numbers of investigations by the University’s counter-terrorism and freedom of speech committee.

Cambridge for Palestine (C4P) claims that the increase in cases considered by this Committee correlates with a spike in pro-Palestine protest at the University which began last year.

Cambridge’s Committee on Prevent and Freedom of Speech is charged with ensuring that the University meets its “obligations” to the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme and the higher education freedom of speech act.

Prevent is a national counter-terrorism program which legally requires public bodies, including schools and universities, to report people who may turn to extremist activity.

In the last academic year, 2023/24, eight cases were considered by the Committee, according to a Varsity freedom of information request. The Committee had made eight investigations in total across the four academic years prior. One of these cases, made in 2021/22, was escalated to the Prevent scheme.

C4P told Varsity that the Committee’s investigations “fit into a broader pattern of policing and weaponisation of bureaucracy against pro-Palestine organising”.

The increase in cases considered by the Committee “correlates with increasing student mobilisation for Palestinian liberation and aligns directly with the punitive security culture the University has been cultivating as a response to this,” the group said.

At the beginning of the 2023/24 academic year, multiple large demonstrations were held in Cambridge in protest against the University’s response to the October 7 attacks. Later in the year, C4P established a pro-Palestine encampment on King’s Parade, calling on the University to cut ties with Israel.

In the four years prior to 2023/24, the Committee had investigated seven students and one member of staff, according to a freedom of information request. In 2023/24, the Committee considered the cases of two students, one staff member, and five events.

C4P also criticised the wider use of the Prevent scheme, which they said “upholds a racist security culture that targets people of colour, working class, and primarily Muslim communities, manufacturing a pretext for policing and censorship, often disproportionately around Palestine”.

In November, students tabled a Student Union motion claiming that the University’s adoption of Prevent “restricts” free speech and the right to protest.

Members of Cambridge’s Amnesty International society claimed that the scheme “prevents freedom of assembly, acts as a tool of student surveillance, and unfairly targets Muslim demographics”.

Cambridge SU’s BME officer Maroof Rafique, who supported the campaign against Prevent, told Varsity: “Prevent has long been criticised for disproportionately targeting racialised and Muslim students, fostering a climate of surveillance and suspicion rather than safety and support.”

“There must be full transparency regarding the referrals [to the committee], with clear assurances that the University is not using Prevent to suppress legitimate free expression, including advocacy for Palestinian rights. We stand firmly against any attempts to criminalise peaceful protest or student activism,” he said.

Last month, The Guardian reported that UK universities were encouraged to adopt “heavy handed” US-style security measures in response to pro-Palestine protests.

Up to 113 students and staff have faced disciplinary investigation due to their involvement in such protests across at least 28 UK universities, according to freedom of information requests by Liberty Investigates and Sky News.

Also in February, Cambridge applied for a legal injunction to prevent pro-Palestine protesters from demonstrating on key university sites. A High Court judge granted the University a short-term injunction to cover last weekend’s graduation ceremonies, but rejected the University’s request for a five-year order.

Ahead of the judgement Gina Romero, the UN’s special rapporteur on freedom of association and peaceful assembly, wrote to vice-chancellor Prentice, urging her to abandon the injunction.

The planned five-year measure “violates the principle of nondiscrimination and content neutrality that are part of the international standards for the protection of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association,” Romero wrote.

A spokesperson for the University of Cambridge told Varsity: “It is wrong and misleading to claim that these figures indicate a “punitive security culture” at the University. They are in fact evidence of the opposite. The Referral Group of the Committee on Prevent and Freedom of Speech considers all concerns brought to its attention by students and staff.”

“In the past five years only one concern has resulted in the referral of an individual to Prevent and no events have been cancelled or refused on Prevent-related grounds. The University is fully committed to freedom of speech and the right to protest within the law,” they said.