Dear Gemma and Stephen,

I am writing to express my disagreement with the decision to censor the NUS Anti-Racism Committee by removing from the anti-racism report and plan, the part which explained that according to the Metropolitan Police Service racist attacks in London have fallen by 35 per cent since Ken Livingstone was elected Mayor of London six years ago.

This a remarkable achievement linked to the Mayor's promotion of a multi-cultural agenda celebrating the contributions and cultures of all of London's diverse communities.

The Metropolitan Police figures also highlight other issues, such as the fact that Black people suffer by far the highest levels of racist attacks.

The elected NUS Anti-Racism Committee wished to highlight the fall in racist attacks in London as an excellent example of how anti-racist policies can make a real difference.

This decision was forced through the Anti-Racism Committee on the basis of the votes of NUS executive members who are not elected members of the committee and who should not have been allowed to vote.

They were given a vote by a ruling of the President of NUS which I feel violated the democracy of the elected NUS Anti-Racism Committee and the votes were used to censor from the report a remarkable example of effective work in fighting racism.

Yours,

Ruqayyah Collector

NUS Black Students Officer and NUS Anti- Racism Campaign Co-Convener

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