Suppression of freedom of expression on Palestine at the University of Edinburgh must stop!
We the undersigned unions, organisations, networks and individual staff and students write to condemn our institution’s senior managers for their suppression of Palestine-related expression at the University of Edinburgh, as detailed below. We cannot tolerate the contradiction of an institution that claims to uphold freedom of expression, but actively works to shut down certain views and threaten those who continue to insist on speaking. There cannot be a Palestine exception to freedom of expression.
Since the beginning of the academic year, after the insensitive and inappropriate meeting between our Principal and the deputy ambassador of Israel, senior managers have adopted increasingly intimidatory behaviour towards student groups who are supporting Palestine and speaking out against Israel’s ongoing war of annihilation in Gaza and attacks in Lebanon, including threatening members with disciplinary action for social media posts and protests that would not have carried such consequences before. This is part of broader suppression of on-campus manifestations of solidarity with the people in Palestine and Lebanon.
Edinburgh students have been doing essential work in refusing to normalise genocide and carry on with our lives as if the killing of more than 43,000 Palestinians (with more than 10,000 uncounted under the rubble), the complete destruction of the educational and medical sectors, the destruction and damaging of more than 70% of homes, the obliteration of all life-saving and life-sustaining infrastructures, and the starvation of 2.3 million people, were not happening. They have organised events to educate themselves and others on the historical roots of the current extermination, called protests and occupied University spaces, put up posters calling for a ceasefire, set up memorials for the victims, all of which is precisely to oppose the normalisation of what has been going on in Gaza. Since the beginning of 2024, with the opening of the investigation against Israel at the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide, students have informed our community about the financial entanglements of the University with what the ICJ then ruled as ‘plausible genocide’. As a result, students and staff have come together, unequivocally asking in all available fora (Student Council, Academic Senate, the encampment, public letters) for divestment from genocide, egregious human rights and international law violations, and Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians.
By contrast, the UoE senior leadership and Court have ignored the strong and consistent calls for divestment in our community. The Court’s repeated dithering and postponement of divestment from stocks of companies directly supporting the Israeli military is not only contributing to creating a university environment that normalises genocide, giving the impression that the financial involvement in the crime of crimes is not an urgent matter that requires an immediate cessation, but also implicates our community in its enactment. We cannot accept this.
As we can document below, UoE management has reacted to student mobilisation by arbitrarily cancelling room bookings for events without any prior consultation with student organisers; repeatedly removing posters in staff offices; removing at least four memorials, including throwing materials such as the photographs of students’ family friends and relatives killed in Gaza into the bin as ‘waste’; refusing student requests to be allocated a space for the commemoration of the victims of the violence in Gaza; and sending threats of disciplinary action to members of two student groups. These actions contravene the principles of freedom of thought and speech outlined in the UoE management’s own guidelines on events. Such restrictions on legitimate freedom of expression and association are not only violations of UoE policy, but are also discriminatory in character, in that they single out certain forms of expression and association for suppression. This appears to be a breach of the Public Sector Duty UoE holds under the Equality Act (2010).
We call on the UoE management to immediately cease all intimidation of students mobilising and raising awareness on campus in solidarity with Palestine. UoE management must change how it addresses Israel’s ceaseless assault on Gaza and its implications for students and staff. This means acknowledging the role of this institution as a contributor to the current violence through its refusal to confront its own historical responsibility for the continuing dispossession of the Palestinians and its current institutional financial support to the Israeli military operations. Suppression of Palestine solidarity is part of a pattern of complicity that we insist must end now.
List of incidents:
While we are in the process of compiling a comprehensive list of all incidents since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the table below outlines the most recent incidents related to solidarity with Palestine on campus:
Poster Removal
Occurrences: Multiple. 8 incidents recorded between September and November, some with repeated instances.
Location: Multiple. SPS staff and PhD student offices, LLC staff offices, Vet School, Geosciences.
There have been multiple reports of incidents involving the removal of posters from various areas of the university. These include UCU ‘Ceasefire Now’ posters and general Palestine solidarity posters that were taken down from the offices of staff and students by either Security or Estates. No clear explanation was given for the removals, other than the claim that the posters were deemed inappropriate and were interfering with the freedom of expression of staff and students.
Intimidation
Occurrences: Multiple. 3 instances of intimidation have been reported so far between April and October.
Location: Multiple. SPS CMB & PhD Offices, Vet School.
There have been incidents of intimidation directed at staff and PhD students, one of which escalated into racial abuse and harassment. These incidents stemmed from the distribution or display of posters and flyers in support of Palestine in public spaces or offices. The intimidation took various forms, including formal communications addressed to staff involved with their line managers copied in, or security and Estates interrogating PhD students in a threatening manner, particularly those from the BAME community, and demanding to see their student IDs. Additionally, one colleague experienced repeated harassment and racial abuse from a fellow staff member since March. Despite a formal complaint to HR, management decided to side with the perpetrator.
Gaza Victims Memorials (Martyrs Memorials) taken down and pictures of killed family members and relatives binned
Occurrences: Multiple. The Gaza Victims Memorials were taken down 4 times (between June and October).
Location: Old College. The Victims Memorial, created by UoE students and staff to honour the victims of the Gaza genocide, has been dismantled four times.
The first incident occurred in June when security disposed of photos belonging to Palestinian students and their relatives. After students complained, the memorial was reinstated, but was removed again in August mere days prior to the meeting of the Deputy Ambassador of Israel with the Principal. The memorial was once again reinstated at the end of August and in September, only to be removed twice again by security. Throughout these events, management refused to allocate space for students and staff to pay tribute to their lost loved ones.
Room Cancellations:
Occurrences: Multiple. At least 2 cancelled room bookings were reported in October (other room bookings made by students and staff had also been reported as cancelled earlier in 2024 - currently gathering information from lead organisers)
Location: Various locations.
It was reported that at least two student room bookings were cancelled by University Timetabling. The first one was made by a non-registered student group for a tutorial reading group scheduled for October 7th. As the activities of this particular student group, including their social media platforms, are closely monitored by the University, the event was flagged and Timetabling cancelled it on the grounds that it was considered a ‘public event’, and that there was not sufficient time for a risk assessment. Additionally, Timetabling indicated that the topic ‘might have been controversial’.
The second room booking, organised by a registered student society, was also cancelled by Timetabling who mistakenly claimed that the event was being organised by the aforementioned non-registered student group. When the lead organiser challenged the false allegation, the UoE Deputy Secretary - Students (whom the case was referred to) provided a different reason for the cancellation, claiming that the event was cancelled due to its ‘public’ nature requiring a risk assessment, hinting also at the topic being ‘controversial’.
In the two instances there was no prior communications with the students, they were only notified about the cancellation of their events via e-mail.
Threatening two student groups with disciplinary action
Occurrences: November, via e-mail
Policing the social platforms of two student groups, management issued a formal letter to the students threatening disciplinary action, following two posts on X calling for divestment. The letter gave the students an ultimatum demanding that the posts be deleted or they would face disciplinary action, emphasising that the University would no longer engage with the two student groups unless their ‘approach changed’.
Organisational signatories:
School of Social and Political Science Palestine Solidarity Network
UCU Edinburgh
Staff Bame Network
Womxn of Colour Collective
CRITIQUE, Centre for Ethics and Critical Thought
Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (EdCMA)
Staff Pride Network Committee
Staff-Student Solidarity Network
Edinburgh Race Equality Network (EREN) Committee
Decolonised Transformations Research and Engagement Working Group (REWG)
Geographies of Social Justice Research Group
Food Researchers in Edinburgh (FRIED)
To date, the letter is also signed by 363 staff, 126 PhD researchers, 70 students and 6 alumni.
