Tackling religiously motivated hate affecting university students

Initiatives designed to tackle the rise of hate and extremism in the UK and beyond have received a vital boost from the Office for Students (OfS).

Our Centre for Hate Studies has received £36,000 in order to support the Standing Together Against Religiously-Motivated Hate campaign, which aims to stamp out religious discrimination of any form on university campuses.

The Centre has developed a series of digital training resources which increase awareness of hate crime and its effects and shed light on what motivates people to commit hate crimes.

Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy from the Centre for Hate Studies said: “The funding from the Office for Students will enable us to build upon the transformative work already underway at the University by developing new and innovative ways of preventing hate and extremism, and supporting victims of hate crime within and beyond the higher education sector.”

Leicester is one of eleven universities in England to receive funding for a range of projects which will strengthen and establish reporting mechanisms for students, support safe-guarding both on and off campuses and develop and sustain positive campus relations between different groups.

The University of Leicester’s award-winning video ‘The Harms of Hate’ is available here: