Published on 08 October 2025
Pro Palestine supporters blockading Cardiff University Main Building, Cardiff, 28th May 2025. Credit: Penallta Photographics / Alamy
A teaching union said student protesters "should be supported by universities, not surveilled by them".
By Aaron Walawalkar for Liberty Investigates and Daniel Boffey for the Guardian.
Universities in the UK reassured arms companies that they would monitor students’ chat groups and social media accounts after firms raised concerns about campus protests, according to internal emails.
One university said it would conduct “active monitoring of social media” for any evidence of plans to demonstrate against Rolls-Royce at a careers fair.
A second appeared to agree to a request from Raytheon UK, the British wing of a major US defence contractor, to “monitor university chat groups” before a visit to their campus.
A further university responded to a defence company’s’ ‘security questionnaire’ seeking information about social media posts suggestive of imminent protests over their alleged role in fuelling war, including in Gaza.
The apparent compliance of the universities to the sensitivities of arms companies ahead of careers fairs has emerged in emails obtained from six universities by The Guardian and Liberty Investigates following freedom of information requests.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said student protesters “should be supported by their universities, not surveilled by them”.
She said: “It is utterly shameful that so many universities have spent time and resources surveilling students who are engaged in peaceful protest against a genocide, and that some have seemingly done so on the say so of defence companies.”
Jinsella Kennaway, director of the campaign group Demilitarise Education, added that universities are “meant to be places of critical thought” and said attempts to reassure weapons firms with surveillance were a “betrayal of their purpose”.
University campuses across the UK have hosted large-scale pro-Palestine protests by students in the last two years and there have been demonstrations against companies with links to the Israeli government at careers fairs.
A coordinated effort was launched by the Association of University Chief Security Officers (Aucso) as a result to prevent protests “affecting our students’ career advancement”, according to notes released under FOI laws from a January 2025 presentation by Aucso to Universities UK, the body which represents vice-chancellors.
Aucso, which has security staff at more than 140 universities, wrote that its members “monitor[ed] media/social media” and deployed both “static officers (at entrance points near the targeted company) and mobile officers (to monitor surrounding areas and for rapid response)” during events.
The security staff of Aucso members also used bodycams to capture video for “legal/disciplinary proceedings,” among other measures, according to the email.
Aucso was approached for comment.
Defence companies who individually raised concerns with institutions about the potential for protests ahead of careers fairs were also offered words of reassurance, emails suggest.
Loughborough University told a recruitment firm running a “Rolls Royce roadshow” that its security team were conducting “active monitoring of social media … to provide early intelligence about protests”.
It was doing so, it wrote, as “protest has been a concern for employers in recent times”.
A Loughborough University spokesperson said previous masked protests by Loughborough Action for Palestine (LAFP), a group which says it is made up of staff, students and alumni, had resulted in students feeling unsafe and allegations of antisemitism.
“We observe the group’s public feed occasionally so as to forewarn those who may be affected in advance of any protests. We are unapologetic for this. We do not surveil students’ social media,” they said.
LAFP responded in a statement: “We understand Antisemitism, which is never acceptable, to differ from the legitimate political stance of anti-Zionism. We are extremely concerned but unsurprised that a few peaceful protests on campus have been perceived as threats to student safety and have been weaponised to ‘justify’ surveillance of students by university management.”
Rolls Royce declined to comment.
Emails from Heriot-Watt University (HWU) suggest that the arms company Raytheon UK asked for the university to “monitor university chat groups” on their behalf ahead of a careers fair, prompting the university to agree to “implement the measures you have suggested”.
Three HWU student societies have accused their university of a “serious and unacceptable intrusion into student privacy and freedom of expression,” setting up a petition for it to ban the firm from campus careers events.
A HWU spokesperson said the university “strongly refuted” any claims it monitored the students’ private correspondence and that safeguarding staff do not have access to any student chat groups or online discussion forums. Asked why staff agreed in writing to Raytheon’s request, it did not answer. Raytheon declined to comment.
Further emails suggest that BAE Systems required Glasgow university and Salford university to complete security questions before agreeing to attend events.
A ‘university security questionnaire’ sent to Glasgow by the defence company asked if the institution was “aware of any social media protests posts or videos”.
In May this year, Glasgow university’s careers service staff met with arms firm Leonardo, whose employee afterwards wrote: “It’s reassuring to know that we’re not going to have the [sic] step back because we can’t find a route to engaging with students and keep [sic] our staff safe.”
The University of Glasgow and Leonardo did not respond to requests for comment. The University of Salford said security measures at campus events are “focused on the health and safety of all participants to provide reassurance,” and added that free speech is a “fundamental pillar of our community”.
In February 2024, Cardiff University moved its career event online “in agreement with BAE” after staff spotted a social media post calling for a protest, emails show.
A Cardiff University spokesperson denied putting students “under surveillance,” saying the protest was posted on a public social media account and picked up through “routine” monitoring of mentions of the university. The university respects students’ right to protest lawfully, “whilst remaining conscious of the need to minimise the impact and disruption to others”, they added.
A BAE Systems spokesperson said the company did not directly sell weapons to Israel. It declined to comment further. The UK does supply BAE-made components to a global pool of F-35 jets which Israel can access.
Almost one in four (37 out of 154) UK universities launched disciplinary investigations into pro-Gaza student and staff activists between October 2023 and March 2025, with up to 200 people affected, according to new data compiled by Liberty Investigates.
At the University of Sheffield, four students who disrupted an online event by BAE Systems, by posting phrases such as “BAE kills kids”, were told to either pay a fine or pledge to effectively only take part in authorised protests.
One of the students, who requested anonymity, said: “You’re essentially being asked to pay for your right to protest.”
A University of Sheffield spokesperson said the students were disciplined because their behaviour breached student codes on disrupting events and using offensive language, “not because of their protests”.
The university “fully supports” the right to protest lawfully “while also having “a responsibility to maintain a safe and welcoming environment”, they added.
A version of this report was published with The Guardian.