Students speak out on the world
Monday 09-03-2026 - 15:37
At Durham, we join a long and proud tradition of students speaking out on international issues. Take a look at the Palatinate archive and you'll see, over decades, students speaking out on climate breakdown, on anti-apartheid, on anti-war, on student rights and protests across the world, on women's rights and on trans rights, to name a few just causes.
I believe education is all about speaking out, if we’re able to do so, and taking bold, progressive, positions. It's fundamental to learning, as well as an act of care and hope and solidarity.
Durham SU, as the collective organisation for all students, supports Durham students and student societies to use their voice. The students' union is a community of many, distinct, voices; not all students agree with each other, or with the students' union , and the students' union won't always agree with all of them! But intelligent, careful, sensitive dialogue and disagreement is how we learn, and how we make progress, and how we make peace.
Durham SU will help any student or society that wants to speak out to do so; sensitively, because we know that students, above all care for each other. When we see statements and events from student societies on international issues, it isn't important that we agree, but it is important that we celebrate the act of speaking out, listen, and reflect on what we've heard.
