ABSTRACT
Most students’ unions in the United Kingdom are subject to regulation by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. In recent years this body has taken a more proactive, interventionist role in the charity sector, including in students’ unions. This chapter examines the impact of the Charity Commission’s intervention in the university sector. Survey evidence shows the lack of knowledge students have about this major regulatory structure, which sets the limits on what students’ unions can say and do. Then the chapter analyses a detailed case study of the Charity Commission’s investigation of an anonymised students’ union’s Palestine and Islamic Societies, from 2016 to 2018. This case study demonstrates that some students’ unions that have faced scrutiny from the Commission are being pushed to deny platforms, as a standard practice, to external speakers requested by their students who may be perceived to be ‘controversial’. This ambiguous concept goes beyond the Prevent Duty’s concern with speakers who may be ‘extreme’. Muslim students are particularly likely to be disadvantaged by this regulatory approach because the Commission’s interventions into students’ unions are driven largely by media reportage, which often shows an inflated interest in Muslim over other student societies.
