The President of UCLU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society has resigned after becoming embroiled in a censorship row with Student Activities Officer Amy Evans.
Evans requested that the society remove a cartoon taken from the popular “Jesus and Mo” web comic from online publicity for a society event. It depicted Jesus and the Prophet Mohammed sitting at a bar together, although its creators maintain the Mohammed shown is a “body double”.
Both Evans and Ruth Siddall, Dean of Students Welfare, were still receiving complaints from students offended at the depiction of the Prophet up to a week after the original use of the cartoon, however only one person has complained directly to the society.
Asked whether he felt it a good idea to have used the image, former UCLU ASHS President Robbie Yellon, said: “When we originally put up the image no-one thought it would cause offence. This spiraled out of control once the Union asked us to remove it. Our voices won’t be stifled just because others might find them offensive.” Defying Union requests, the cartoon remained on Facebook until the event it was advertising had passed.
An online petition of support for ASHS garnered over 4,300 signatures, including one from Richard Dawkins, who commented that the cartoons “could offend only those actively seeking to be offended.”
In a statement given by UCLU, James Skuse, Democracy and Communications Officer, said that students must “understand the balance between freedom of expression and cultural sensitivity,” while the ASHS have promised to show a little more consideration in future publicity.
Yellon sees his departure as the result of his growing workload rather than any Union interference in the running of his society, however Michael Paynter, secretary for the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies which supports the ASHS, said to the BBC: “Robbie stepped aside because he signed up as president to organise events and run a student society. He did not appreciate the stress he would be under when dealing with a controversy like this, so he wanted to make way for someone else.”
UCLU’s sabb team has developed a worrying reflex this year, leaning heavily and quickly towards censorship when any offence is caused (see CG 30, 31 and 32). Unfortunately, this often seems to overrule reason – Jesus and Mo cartoons have been published bi-weekly online since 2005, and using such an image on a Facebook event for atheists is hardly splashing controversy in the devout’s faces. The stiff reaction to the request for removal (several members of the society made the offending image their profile picture) only highlights the fact that Union intervention often does more to fan flames than extinguish them. Furthermore, censorship of platforms such as Facebook which are entirely externally hosted only reaffirms the hypocrisy of those in the sabb suite who were elected on anti-censorship platforms.