King’s College London has apologised to student activists who were barred from entering the university’s buildings during a visit by the Queen in March, after an inquiry found that security staff “overstepped their authority”.

An independent report (pdf) found that security staff contacted the Metropolitan police claiming that disruption was likely at the event, and passed on the names of 13 students and a staff member, as well as picking out student groups campaigning for rent reductions and better conditions for KCL’s cleaners.

The report also found that the university’s former head of security had created blacklists of student activists, including personal details, in breach of the university’s own data protection guidelines and legislation.

University barred 10 students from campus during Queen's visit Read more

Prof Evelyn Welch, KCL’s acting principal, said in a letter to staff and students that she apologised “wholeheartedly” for the actions, which blocked the security passes of the targeted students and left them unable to access lectures or libraries even several miles from the event at the refurbished Bush House in central London.

One student was blocked from entering a KCL building for an exam at its Denmark Hill site in south London, and was only able to enter when local staff allowed them in.

Prof Welch said the report into the university’s security procedures “has been uncomfortable to read. It makes it clear that the actions we took with respect to our students were wrong and did not meet our values.”

KCL’s head of security – who is said to have been identified blaming the Met for barring access to the ceremony in videos taken by students – is understood to no longer be working at the university. Welch, in her statement, said KCL was seeking a new head of security.

Laura Gibbs, the author of the review, wrote: “At some point, a separate culture has been allowed to develop in part of the estates and facilities team that is at odds with the core values of the King’s community.”

While Gibbs said she had “enormous sympathy” for security staff, because of the challenges they faced and lack of institutional support, she concluded that “elements of the estates and facilities team have overstepped their authority”.

The investigation found that security staff exchanged information with contacts at the Met, naming student members of activist groups such as Action Palestine, Justice for Cleaners and Climate Strike, having identified the students from previous protests, in some cases using video footage.

When asked by the Met’s royalty and specialist protection team for dates of birth of the students, the head of security replied in an email: “I would have to go to student services and that would raise flags and cause chatter so would rather not as this is sensitive around student freedosm!!!” [sic]

The report said that forwarding the names of KCL students to the Met without a formal request was a breach of data protection regulations.

Welch said KCL intended to implement the report’s recommendations in full, to tackle the “systemic underlying issues” it raised.

“While the report does not suggest it, we accept that some interpreted the actions that were taken on the day as racial profiling. That was not the case and I want to reiterate that discrimination on any grounds is unacceptable and is damaging to our community,” Welch said.