Petition demands apology from “sanctimonious little prigs”

The controversy at LSE continues with the emergence of a petition last week calling for an apology from LSESU for their actions against their Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society on the grounds that their t-shirts were deemed offensive. Richard Dawkins famously dubbed those involved from the LSESU as “sanctimonious little prigs.”

Sanctimoniousˌadjective: making a show of being morally superior to other people.

Jason Wong, an LSE Student Governor and President of the LSESU Hayek Society, launched a petition demanding an apology for the “blatant attack on free speech & mistreatment on LSE students at Freshers’ Fayre.”  The letter is specifically addressed to the Sabbatical Officers Jay Stoll, Rosie Coleman, Anneessa Mahmood, and Hannah Richmond.

The petition notes: “LSE students and members of the ASH society faced physical intimidation and were threatened to be forcefully removed from campus for wearing t-shirts which allegedly depict the religious figures of the prophet Muhammad and Jesus of Nazareth.”

As of October 17^th, the petition has over 2400 signatures and the story still experiences much exposure in the national press. Richard Dawkins was no doubt instrumental in helping the controversy attain such a degree of publicity.

Judging by his Twitter feed, Dawkins remains unsurprisingly furious over the lack of resignations.

The petition was also signed by Louisa Townson, the UCLU TorySoc President, who commented: “While I may not agree with the content of the T-shirt, LSE SU does not have the right or mandate to determine what is and what isn’t offensive. LSE SU should remember it has a duty to all its members and apologise to these students for their forceful ejection.”

Abhishek Phadnis and Chris Moos of the LSE ASH Society offer an account of the events which is available on the website of the National Secular Society. It is stated there that only the Students Union and LSE Security Staff conveyed any offense to their clothing.

A poll on HuffPost reveals the extent to which people appear to oppose the actions of the LSESU.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this story ends.