The body that represents UK universities has withdrawn guidance on the gender segregation of audiences in lectures and debates after the prime minister, David Cameron, said it should not be allowed to happen.
Universities UK said a controversial case study setting out the guidance was being withdrawn while it reviewed its stance, but insisted the legal position remained unclear on whether the voluntary separation of men and women could be allowed at events such as lectures on Islam by visiting speakers.
Cameron's spokesman had earlier said Universities UK should urgently review the guidance.
His intervention followed comments by the education secretary, Michael Gove, who accused the body that represents universities of "pandering to extremists".
Universities UK issued the guidance following a series of Islamic events at campuses at which male and female students had been separated.
The prime minister's spokesman said: "There is an issue around speakers who are invited into universities. He doesn't think that guest speakers should be able to address segregated audiences and he thinks that Universities UK should urgently review its guidance.
"There is an important issue around principle and possible risks around discrimination. I think [Cameron] feels very strongly about this."
The spokesman made clear that the PM wanted a ban on gender-segregated audiences on campus even where men and women voluntarily separated themselves.
He also stressed that the prime minister's views did not extend to places of worship such as mosques, synagogues or gurdwaras.
The intervention comes the day after the education secretary said the guidance, which has also been branded not permissible by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), was a "disgrace".
"We should not pander to extremism. Speakers who insist on segregating audiences should not be indulged by educators. This guidance is wrong and harmful. Universities UK should withdraw it immediately," Gove told the Daily Mail.
On Thursday Universities UK, which represents more than 130 higher education institutions, said it was seeking a definitive legal view on the issue from the EHRC after its London headquarters were targeted by student protesters this week.
The EHRC said it was involved in redrafting sections in guidance that said that Muslim and other groups were permitted to voluntarily segregate men and women at events. Its chief executive, Mark Hammond, told the Telegraph: "Equality law permits gender segregation in premises that are permanently or temporarily being used for the purposes of an organised religion where its doctrines require it.
"However, in an academic meeting or in a lecture open to the public it is not, in the commission's view, permissible to segregate by gender."
The document was aimed at covering the legal issues around hosting external speakers, including how to balance the right to free speech against other considerations.
It took the example of an ultra-orthodox religious group invited to speak as part of a wider series of talks on faith, where the speaker requested the audience be segregated by gender. The guidance says that if, for example, women and men were seated separately side by side rather than men at the front and women at the back there would not necessarily be any gender inequality, and voluntary segregation could be permitted.
Universities UK said it had sought an opinion from the senior barrister Fenella Morris QC, which concluded that the advice was "an appropriate foundation for lawful decision-making by universities".
The guidance prompted widespread criticism and protests from students.
A Universities UK spokesman said: "UUK's publication External Speakers in Higher Education aims to provide guidance to institutions in managing the process for inviting external speakers on to campus, both in terms of upholding principles of free speech and complying with the law.
"It was produced with significant input from a range of organisations as well as extensive legal advice and reflected the Technical Guidance on Further and Higher Education issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
"Given the public concern in relation to a case study about gender segregation, we requested opinions from senior counsel Fenella Morris QC and from the EHRC. The advice from senior legal counsel confirms that our guidance is correct and provides an appropriate foundation for lawful decision-making.
"For the avoidance of any doubt, we are not talking here about enforced segregation. It is very hard to see any university agreeing to a request for segregation that was not voluntary and did not have the broad support of those attending.
"We are now working with senior legal counsel and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to review both our case study and the commission's guidance to ensure that they are consistent and clear for universities."
Tahir Nasser, chairman of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students' Association UK, which regularly organises lectures on Islam on university campuses, said the prime minister's views did not take into consideration the sensitivities of other communities.
"I completely disagree with the forced segregation of students at universities. This is really a non-issue as Muslim women and men who feel more comfortable sitting next to people of the same gender are already able to do so. Their personal preference should not be imposed upon others who have a different preference," he said.
"However, at the same time, those wishing to freely sit separately should be able to do so and their rights respected just as those of others are."
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