The potential for Student Respect in alliance with the Federation of Student Islamic Societies to make a breakthrough in student politics – and the contradictory results this would have for political and social life on the campuses – has been illustrated by the spat on Manchester University’s Student Direct. Emily Bransom reports

Since the election of Sajid Rafiq as editor in March – as part of an Islamic Society-Respect bloc that saw the SWP’s Rob Owen win the position of student union general secretary – there has been ongoing controversy over his management style and general competence. Rafiq – as blithely admitted by even his supporters – had shown no journalistic inclinations in the past and had never written for the paper he now edits.

Accusations quickly followed that Rafiq was staffing top positions in the newspaper – the mostly widely circulated student journal in Europe with a print run of 60,000 – with his political friends and allies. A crisis point was reached when two longstanding sub-editors were fired – allegedly in the preferred manner of management bullies in today’s workplaces … by text. Subsequently, 12 members of staff working on the news, opinion, sports, features, music, books and film pages of the paper walked out, as did the entire photographic team.

Certainly, there seems to be a consensus among the wider student body that the journalistic standards on the paper have dramatically declined since the new team took over.

In the aftermath of Rafiq’s election, some of the disgruntled former staff have denounced the paper’s “far left” lurch – that is, it became distinctly anti-Iraq war and occupation and began to feature more of what were dismissively referred to as “international” matters. So, there is no question that Rafiq has attracted criticism from the right. However, there are other criticisms.

Most controversial so far has been a front-page article on prostitution earlier this month that left many seething with anger and frustrated by the non-response of the University’s women’s officer, Karla Thomas. The story featured the complaint that prostitutes in Manchester were “harassing” students and must find alternative streets to roam in order to ply their dishonourable trade. Clearly, this was a reflection of a reactionary political programme that views prostitution simply as an issue of moral degeneracy, something that requires a policing response.

No doubt the front page reflected the views of the new editor … but what of his bloc partners? Student Respect has been shamefully silent and Rob Owen has made no public comment.