Introduction
December 2014
We welcome Union events hosted both in King’s and KCLSU venues and elsewhere. Many of these events have external speakers
attending. As a Students’ Union our External Speakers Policy, in conjunction with our Safe Space policy, makes sure that we’re
providing a platform for educational experience whilst following the charity and other legislation that we’re responsible for
upholding.
Freedom of expression
Freedom of expression and speech are basic human rights that are protected by law. ‘Academic freedom’ is a term used to describe
the law that allows for open and honest debate in an academic context. King’s has a legal duty to secure the development of
students’ ideas and understanding in the form of academic freedom on campus. Academic freedom only applies to College staff
and academics and does not apply to students and visiting speakers.
Student safety and welfare is at the heart our KCLSU policies and practices. The freedom to express views needs to be balanced
with the need to secure freedom from harm for students and communities. We want all of our Union activities including those
hosted by of our Officers, student groups, and Student Council to be:
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Safe (complying with our safeguarding and safe space policies)
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Within the law
As part of our process for approving who speaks on campus we assess all our external speakers and their topic of discussion to
assess the risks that they present to our policy or legal responsibilities. We’re committed to working together with event
organisers and if necessary the external speakers themselves to make sure that we reach a judgement that is reasonable, informed
and within the law.
External speakers
This policy is a KCLSU policy and does not take into account any KCL requirements, such as involvement of the Dean’s or PR office
in case of external speaker.
This policy applies to all Union events including those organised by Student Councillers, Officers, KCLSU staff or student groups or
clubs. All Councillers, Officers, KCLSU staff or student groups or clubs will have undergone President & Treasurer or similar training
and therefore know the importance and impact of communicating the correct information regarding their events and potential
speakers, and also the repercussions for not adhering to our policies, which could be that the result in disciplinary procedures. No
event organiser should bypass this policy by contacting KCL directly.
An external speaker is used to describe any individual or organisation who is not a student or staff member of King’s College
London, KCLSU or is KCLSU Associate Member. KCLSU reserves the right to extend this policy to Associate Members.
This includes any individual who is a student or staff member from another institution or Students’ Union. All events organised
with external speakers in a KCLSU building or property our outside it, are still within the responsibility (and liability) of the KCLSU
including:
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Any event organised by a ratified student group/society, Student Council, Student Officer or KCLSU member of Staff that
will take place in a Union space
Any event organised by the above that will take place outside the Union building (for example in the College, off campus,
out of the immediate area or in another country)
Events where external speakers are streamed live into an event, or a pre-recorded film is shown
The President of the group organising any event is responsible for the activities that take place within their events. All speakers will
be made aware of their responsibility to abide by the law, the University and the Union’s various policies, including that they:
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must not incite hatred, violence or call for the breaking of the law
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are not permitted to encourage, glorify or promote any acts of terrorism including individuals, groups or organisations
that support such acts
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must not spread hatred and intolerance in the community and thus aid in disrupting social and community harmony
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must seek to avoid insulting other faiths or groups, within a framework of positive debate and challenge
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are not permitted to raise or gather funds for any external organisation or cause without express permission of the
trustees
Our procedure
Event organisers must notify the Union of any events that involve external speakers (defined as individuals or organisations that
are not part of the Union or the University) through this procedure. Any room booking with an external speaker involved must be
made no later than 21 days before the date of the event. This is to allow for adequate safeguarding checks to be made, as well as
allowing time for alterations to the event if necessary.
All External Speakers agree to the KCLSU External Speaker’s Briefing (Appendix Item 1).
No event involving any external speakers may be publicised or considered confirmed until the speaker has been cleared through
the procedure detailed in this policy. This includes advertisement through any social media platform.
KCLSU reserves the right to cancel, prohibit or delay any event with an external speaker if our policy is not followed or if health,
safety and security criteria cannot be met.
Any request made outside of this timeframe will be rejected.
When booking for a room online with external speakers you’ll be asked to detail a:
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brief description or booking title
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full description of the event detailing the exact purpose of the booking
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group size (please note that if this is over the limit for that room then it will be rejected automatically)
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name and contact details of the person making the booking
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start and end time of the event
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contact details for external speaker
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brief biography of the speaker
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If the event is outside of your “core” activity, the event will need a separate risk assessment
Any failure to disclose the full details of an external speaker will result in an event / booking being cancelled and could result in
disciplinary action or society based sanctions.
The completed form will be passed to the KCLSU student centre team who will check all speakers’ details, group links and other
connections (up to the maximum of 6 pages Google results and any web link that is provided) on the spreadsheet provided.
If there is cause for a referral then the details for the booking need to be sent to the Chief Executive, (or their nominee during
absence), for further investigation and guidance.
Reasons for a referral are any of the following
 The potential for the event going ahead to cause the union to be in breach of its equal opportunities policy
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The potential for the event going ahead to cause the union to fail in its wider legal duties
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The potential for the event going ahead to give concern for the health and safety of the people attending the event or
nearby
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The potential for the event going ahead to cause reputational risk to KCLSU
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The potential for the speaker’s presence on campus to cause fear or alarm to members of the student body
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The potential for the speakers presence on campus to give rise to breach of peace
Examples for referral include
 The external speaker is linked to a proscribed organisation:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380939/ProscribedOrganisations.pdf
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The external speaker is on a speaker tour across a number of institutions or organisations
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The profile of the speaker/event/performance is such that it may be subject to a large crowd that will need managing
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Concerns a talk by an organisation generally considered extremist
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It is reported that the external speaker has spoken previously at another institution that has caused fear and/or
intimidation of students, staff or other members of the public
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The speaker/event/performance is reported as being highly controversial
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The topic of the event or the external speaker is reported as likely to cause harm to a specific group of students
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The external speaker or performer has over 1000 twitter followers
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The external speakers has received coverage in the mainstream media e.g. TV channel or national or London newspaper
coverage
Speaker validation
Upon referral, the Chief Executive will conduct a short investigation into the speaker and the event that, wherever relevant, takes
representations from the event organiser related to the booking and from a wide number of concerned groups, university officials
and external bodies.
In making recommendations they will assess risk based on the following Risks will be identified as low, medium or high:
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any decision to limit freedom of speech as per the University’s code of practice in pursuance of the 1986 Education Act
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the event going ahead to cause the Union to be in breach of its equal opportunities (or other) policy
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the event going ahead to cause the Student’s Union to fail in its wider legal duties
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the event going ahead to cause reputational risk to the Union or KCL
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the speaker’s presence on campus to cause fear or alarm to members of the student body
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the speaker’s presence on campus to give rise to breach of peace and/ or overcrowding issues leading to health and safely
fears
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any other factor which is felt to be appropriate to take into account
They may make one of the following recommendations:
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to not permit the event with the external speaker to go ahead
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to fully permit the event with the external speaker to go ahead unrestricted
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to permit the event with the external speaker to go ahead on the basis of regulatory steps designed to reduce risk
Regulatory steps may include requiring that:
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the event be filmed by an independent body
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The event is observed by Union, University or third party officials. The Union, University or third party officials reserve the
right to stop events if any of KCLSU’s policies are contravened before or during the event
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The event be stewarded by Safe space Marshalls or subject to security (or extra security) on the door (at the expense of the
club or society hosting the event)
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An event promoting a particular view includes an opportunity to debate or challenge that view
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An event that was for society members only be opened to all members of the Union
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A copy of any speech to be delivered by the speaker is submitted to the Union in advance
When considering any regulatory steps designed to reduce risk, the potential of those steps to cause risk (for example, the sense of
oppression felt by having security on the door) should be taken into account. The recommendation will be put to the Vice
President Activities and Development who will make a decision.
Information on these decisions will be communicated to the Trustee board by the Head of Operations in the quarterly reports.
External Speakers Policy v2
Approval: Senior Leadership Team 1/1/15
For review: 31/12/15
Appendix
KCLSU’s External Speaker’s Briefing
Welcome, and thank you for agreeing to speak to our students at a KCLSU event. We welcome the events hosted both in King’s
and KCLSU venues and elsewhere, but we have to make sure that our students feel safe at all of these events. A number of our
societies choose to fulfil these objectives by inviting in speakers broaden the scope of discussion and debate at events and we are
grateful to those who volunteer their time to contribute to the extra-curricular development of our students.
In allowing speakers to attend KCLSU events we approve them based on the understanding that they act within the law and the
regulations set by the College and the statutes that those regulations are drawn from. The use of KCL and KCLSU premises for
events that involve external speakers is regulated by University Room Booking Procedure and these rules are therefore adopted by
KCLSU in line with our use of their premises for our events.
It is our duty to act within the law and protect the safety of our students and staff. Our objective to promote Freedom of Speech is
limited only by statute laws that protect individuals and groups of individuals from hate speech. These statutes forbid
communication which is hateful, threatening, abusive or insulting and is intended to harass, alarm or distress. Communication
which targets a person based on their skin colour, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion or sexuality is forbidden. It is also a criminal
offence to incite or encourage others to break the law. All speakers, as well as event attendees, must be respectful of the beliefs
and opinions of others.
If there are concerns raised at any point in the lead up to the event regarding the safety of attendees such as a breech of the peace
or a criminal offence the Union will inform the University Head of Security, in line with the University Code of Practice, and
conditions may be made before the continuation of the event/event approval. These may include:
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Requesting submission of the speeches in advance of the meeting
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Limitation on attendees
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Declaration of attendees in advance of the meeting
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Stewards to be provided by the organisers
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Presence of officers of KCLSU to ensure good order
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Limitation on what attendees may bring to the event, which may include banning food or drink or anything that could be
used as a missile
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No banners, flags, placards or similar items being allowed in to the building
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Alteration of the conduct of the meeting or its facilitation.
Organisers would be consulted on these conditions in advance of the event and all speakers notified of the outcome. An event may
also be cancelled if there are concerns that the event would risk student safety, violation of health and safety requirements or if the
event risked violating the aforementioned laws regarding hatred, discrimination or incitement. KCLSU reserves the right to cancel
or postpone any event should they have any concerns. We also reserve the right to perform spot checks on events being hosted by
KCLSU clubs and societies. If there are breaches of the KCLSU or KCL policies at our event the matter will be referred for
disciplinary or legal action.
This briefing document has been provided to ensure all of our speakers are aware of the framework we operate within when
facilitating external speakers and the measures that may, rarely, be required to support Freedom of Speech at our events. Again,
we thank you for agreeing to speak at one of our events and if you have any questions regarding any of the information in this
document please contact us.
Useful Links
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Terrorism Act 2000
The Education (No. 2) Act 1986 S43
Education Reform Act 1988 – Academic Freedom
The Human Rights Act 1998
Equality Act 2010 (s.10 relates to religion & belief as a protected characteristic)
Discrimination Law – religion and belief
Public Order Act 1986 – Violent, Threatening or Abusive Conduct and Speech
KCL Policy on harassment, bullying and discrimination for students
KCL Maintaining good relations in the College community
KCL Policy and procedures in respect of permissible activities
KCL KCLSU Room Booking Policy and Procedure
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KCLSU Safe Space Policy
Protecting Free Debate