The University of Sheffield is one of 12 universities that is facing backlash for paying a private security firm to monitor student protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates, Horus Security Consultancy Ltd has been paid over \u00a3440,000 by different universities to monitor student activity since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The private security firm was founded in 2006 by Jonathan Whiteley, a former Military Intelligence official, and offers an insight service which provides 24\/7 alerts and open-source monitoring for clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isabel Fletcher-Shaw, 19, a student at the University of Sheffield, said: \u201cI am appalled at the relationship between Horus and the university. They have no right to be \u2018spying\u2019 on their students, and it goes against everything the university should stand for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miss Fletcher-Shaw said she intends to continue speaking out about matters that are important to her, but added that the university risks fostering distrust if students feel they are being watched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not the first time the University of Sheffield has come under scrutiny for its handling of student affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2024 the University was criticised for pursuing a court order to evict pro-Palestinian group \u2018Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine\u2019 (SCCP) from an encampment outside the Student Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following their eviction from campus, the SCCP moved the encampment to Weston park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “Our priority is always to maintain a safe environment for students, staff, and visitors while actively supporting freedom of speech and lawful protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As part of this, like many universities, we use external services to \u2018horizon scan\u2019 and share briefings on external issues that may affect the HE sector, such as cyber security, national and international terrorism and major UK events. They also look at issues that may affect Sheffield specifically, such as large-scale, upcoming protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Any briefings are compiled strictly from publicly available information from news sites, websites and social media platforms. We do not share student data with these providers and they are not briefed to monitor individuals or actively monitor student social media accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is incorrect to suggest routine horizon scanning is intended to discourage activism. These services help us plan effectively to ensure such activities can take place safely. We also actively provide guidance to students who want to protest at the University.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this revelation has created a feeling of uncertainty and distrust on campus, particularly among international students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maria Galeno Mendoza, 20, a student at the University of Sheffield, said: \u201cInvestigating us is not going to make us suddenly less inclined to fight for the Palestinian cause. Scaring us doesn\u2019t make us feel any more hopeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt will change how I act around campus because I feel unsafe to express myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This revelation follows a freedom of information (FOI) request from Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates to over 150 universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other Universities mentioned in the report include the University of Bristol, University College London (UCL), and Cardiff Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The University of Sheffield is one of 12 universities that is facing backlash for paying a private security firm to monitor student protests. According to a joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates, Horus Security Consultancy Ltd has been paid over \u00a3440,000 by different universities to monitor student activity since 2022. The private […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":318,"featured_media":60297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,132,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/318"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60301,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60293\/revisions\/60301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}