UK Students Are Pissed Off That Their University Made David Cameron a Gay Hero

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

Last Thursday, as his students spent their summer break doing menial jobs for minimum wage, the Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University in Leicester sent around a self-congratulatory email to his entire student body, announcing that the Prime Minister had been made a Companion of the University for legalizing same-sex marriage. David Cameron received the honor during a ceremony at 10 Downing Street that was attended by De Montfort's Pro Chancellor and Vice Chancellor, as well as students and financial backers of the university.

Funnily enough, some students didn't take too kindly to having the decision to give the PM a big gong dumped on them without consultation. They took to the university's Facebook page to call Vice Chancellor Dominic Shellard a "social climber" who doesn't care about students' opinions.

No matter who was made a "Companion," someone would likely have a problem with the decision. And Cameron's record on LGBT issues is up for debate: He gets a big tick in the gay-friendly box for introducing the Same Sex Couples Act in 2013. On the other hand, LGBT support groups have faced massive funding cuts as a result of Cameron's government's policies. And you have to wonder why Cameron would appoint Caroline Dinenage to be Equalities Minister when she voted against equal marriage in 2013.

But the problem here seems to be more that the university didn't allow that debate to happen before they chose to give Cameron a big pat on the back. When I asked the university about it they said that the university's LGBT community supported the move, but it turns out that's not really the case.

According to a university spokesperson, the award "is not about political colors but recognizes the overwhelmingly positive change that equal marriage has brought about for thousands of people across the UK. We were delighted that students and staff from the university's LGBT communities were able to be part of this historic day." The spokesman pointed out that two members of the student LGBT+ Society were at the ceremony

In reality, the Chair of De Montfort's LGBT+ Society, Tim Deves, told me that, "While two members of the society attended, they were not informed prior that there was any political agenda behind the event." The event was billed as an honorary graduation ceremony, and the true reason for the trip to Downing Street only became clear at the last minute.

Aidan Keenan is one of the society members who made the trip. He said that he was "escorted up to the room the ceremony was to take place in… and it was literally at that exact moment I learnt that David Cameron was being presented with the award, and it was for his 'hard work and dedication' to legalizing same-sex marriage. Of course it was too late to protest or complain, so I had to stand through the ceremony, seemingly looking like I supported this award when truthfully I didn't."

Daniel Murgatroyd, the student union's elected LGBTQ+ representative, was similarly in the dark. He only realized what had happened after the story started to spread on social media, and says that Cameron was not an appropriate choice for the honor: "It is hard to credit a single man, even a Prime Minister, with ever getting a bill passed, especially considering that 45 percent of his party rebelled against him and voted no."

Cameron was nominated by Lord Alli, a Labour peer who was previously De Montfort's Chancellor. A conferment Committee made the final decision over whether to award the honor, which is supposed to give the honor legitimacy and the support of the whole university. In reality, the committee is only made up of senior management and a couple of academics chosen by Vice Chancellor Shellard. No students were consulted before Cameron was given the award.

Students taking to De Montfort's Facebook page got really, really angry. Their posts were frequently taken down, with the uni saying that it is "hiding obscene or abusive comments… in line with our normal social media policy."

Danni Spooner, a dance student at De Montfort, claims she was phoned by two members of staff who told her to remove a post containing the hashtag "#fuckyouDominic," referring to the Vice Chancellor, as it could hurt her future career prospects. Danni told me that she agreed to meet them halfway and remove just the hashtag, but now feels "watched by my own institution, a place that openly said that they… respect an individual's right to their opinion." For Danni, the claim that the award was apolitical is absurd—both the staff that phoned told her to put her political opinions aside.

A university spokesperson denied any knowledge of staff members phoning students regarding social media posts, and said: "Academia is all about debate. The university understands that, of course, people will react in different ways to this award and DMU respects their right to express and debate opinion."

Students may be left wondering about the point of having such a debate when a decision has already been made.

De Montfort's LGBT+ Society have started a petition asking the university to explain its decision in full, and justify its decision not to consult students on the award.

University management has now agreed to meet with society representatives to discuss their concerns. But considering De Montfort haven't stripped FIFA President and football's biggest piss-taker Sepp Blatter of his honorary degree—which he got for being "forthright, visionary, ethical and, above all, professional"—it looks unlikely Cameron will lose his award.