University of Glasgow Rector, Edward Snowden

The motion

That the Parliament welcomes the appointment of the whistleblower, Edward Snowden, as the Rector of the University of Glasgow; considers that he has exposed the extent of covert surveillance by the USA's National Security Agency and the close ties that it has with the UK's security services; notes his comments that this represents "a vote in support of academic freedom and that in a world where so many of our developing thoughts and queries and plans must be entrusted to the open internet, mass surveillance is not simply a matter of privacy, but of academic freedom and human liberty"; believes that the university has a strong tradition of supporting freedom and transparency through previous appointments such as Winnie Mandela and Mordechai Vanunu, who it understands revealed the extent of the Israeli nuclear weapons arsenal; expresses continuing concern over what it sees as the extent and scope of state surveillance and interference on basic rights, and hopes that this appointment sends out a clear message that such rights should not be infringed.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 5 Ind 2

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S4M-09074 by reference.