Expressing ourselves freely is a basic human right, and freedom of speech is an important part of this expression. Nowhere is it more important than in universities, where ideas need to be challenged, new perspectives developed, and independent thinking among students and staff should be the norm. Although the Equality Act is already in place on campuses, to make sure students are protected from harassment and unlawful discrimination, censorship has become a real issue in recent years, and there are growing concerns that not enough is being done to uphold free speech in colleges and universities. Students, staff, and union members, in campuses across Britain, are facing growing repression and intimidation tactics, because of their actions, words and beliefs, and the University of Birmingham (UoB) is no exception.
University of Birmingham: clamping-down on pro-Palestine movement
Peaceful protest over Israel’s genocide in Gaza has resulted in UoB students facing disciplinary procedures, which may even result in expulsion and prevent them from graduating. This attempt to clampdown on dissent comes at a time when the university has also revised its Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech, carried out without consultation with the staff unions, or any explanation as to how the changes were linked to new aspects of the law. The University of Birmingham branch of the University and College Union (BUCU) believes there are several issues with its effectiveness, so have submitted a set of changes to the Code, which it says make it workable, and addresses legitimate safety concerns, but does not inhibit free speech.
Andrew Olson is Vice President of BUCU, and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Birmingham. He told the Canary:
What we found, examining the code, were many problems. It is very broad – seemingly covering all activities of teaching and research, so that it’s not clear what you don’t have to ask permission for. There is also no obligation on the University to have an open and transparent process for making decisions. Every event must have a named organiser, and they need to ask for authorization 14 days before any event, otherwise they could be refused.
This could frequently be reasonable but won’t be if activities are responding to changing events. The University has also asked for ‘measures to ensure opposing views can be put forward lawfully’. But, in many contexts, whether university seminars or demonstrations and protests, people are advocating for a particular view. That cannot be prohibited if there is to be free and open discussion, debate and protest.
According to Olson, it is now unclear to some staff members whether they will get into trouble for discussing something, so they start to think ’That’s a controversial topic, I’d better not include that’. This includes not just those working in areas such as the Middle East, but also those talking about topics such as gender, race and class. But, he says, if these staff knew they were protected, they would not think like this.
“I think its important to have that space in a university, where these types of conversations are allowed, even encouraged, and where the university supports that. The university is unlikely to care about, or want to control all these different areas but, if someone else suddenly becomes interested in them, they then have the tools to do that,” Olson explains.
Cancelling events and tactics of intimidation
Back in December 2023, the UoB prevented the go ahead of an event discussing law in Palestine, because of the inclusion on the flyer, of watermelons, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. The discussion was cancelled at the last minute, with no explanation given at the time, although UoB eventually claimed the event was only postponed and would take place at a later date, but this has never happened.
Olson said:
In my mind, indefinite postponement is the same thing as cancelling. But normally they don’t do that. The main way we see this code operating to keep debate invisible, or make sure it doesn’t happen, or keep it away from the rest of the university community, is not through explicit forbidding of things. Instead, they operate through active intimidation, and making people view lots of things to get activities approved. They delay things and set vague conditions that mean activities are either difficult to do, or are less effective.
Students, staff and UCU members say the university not only uses tactics of intimidation against them, but also accuses them of acts of intimidation. Olson noted:
They have done this to me. I went with the students to the Vice Chancellor’s office, to deliver a letter about the situation in Gaza and University involvement in related activities. It was from the students and also signed by both unions – UCU and UNISON. Afterwards, I was accused of intimidating staff from the VC’s office.
I was there as a member of staff to support students, as a member of the UCU, representing the local branch as an officer, and as an open member of the group who could be a point of reference for both staff and students. The students were fearful because they felt threatened by the university.
I felt that I could provide a supportive presence, and act as a potential mediator if the situation required that. The students were insistent, but not threatening, about wanting to see the VC, but he was not in. We delivered the letter and that was it. So I was surprised to be contacted by the Director of Human Resources afterwards.
One student, who wants to remain anonymous, was part of the committee of UoB Friends of Palestine, and therefore had to attend many meetings with the Vice Chancellor and other university staff. This meant he was known to the university. He told the Canary:
I received an unexpected email from the uni, saying I was being investigated, but I had no idea what it was about. At their meeting, I was blamed for being at a protest, although I was not even on campus. I was shown a video of an ‘unauthorized’ protest, and a student who was obviously not me. They knew it wasn’t me but wanted to pin the blame on someone. They asked me if I had organized the protest, knew who had organized it, or knew who had taken part in it. But I knew nothing, as I was not there, and the university had to admit it was wrong.
But the false accusations are nothing new.
Fabricating accusations for over a decade
Back in 2014, UoB student Simon Furse accused the university of using legal action to deter dissent on campus, as he was cleared of assaulting a security guard during a protest about tuition fees. The case against him collapsed although not before Furse and other students were arrested, disciplined, and suspended from the university when a video emerged showing the story had been fabricated. The University of Birmingham is also currently taking disciplinary action against two of its students.
Antonia Listrat, a final year International Law and Globalization student, started her disciplinary process last October, and her hearing is today (28 January). She is accused of participating in ‘unauthorised’ protests, for being part of the pop up encampment on campus during welcome week, and protesting outside the university Investment Subcommittee meeting last May.
Listrat argues that:
Senior management were at the Welcome Week event, taking photos and intimidating us. We were told they were going to find out who we were and expel all of us. It was never just me, it was a group effort, and I was never an organiser. It’s not feasible to have organisers.
We do not want anyone to have a target on their back, and be named. The university’s said we’ve been threatening and intimidating, and using inappropriate language or behaviour, but these claims are part of a larger pattern of criminalizing students. It’s rooted in anti-Palestinian racism.
We wear Palestinian Keffiyehs to cover our faces, but during the student encampment court case last year, someone from the university gave evidence against us, saying students were wearing balaclavas to intimidate people. We weren’t wearing balaclavas. No one has ever worn a balaclava, and we are not intimidating! They also said we were threatening to Jewish students, but this isn’t the case. There are Jewish students who are pro-Palestinian and protest with us.
Although the International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestine to be illegal, Amnesty International has concluded Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, governments are still not acting.
Listrat says:
It’s up to the people to uphold the law, if the governments don’t do it. But this disciplinary has made me feel like my right to protest has been violated and denied. So many people are scared right now, and feel desperate they can’t take any action because of potential consequences. It’s horrible. Protesting has been a way of doing something and it’s been great for my mental health, but now that’s been suppressed and I’ve been silenced, it feels like I’ve been disempowered.
University of Birmingham: complicit in genocide
Mariyah Ali, a final year English and Creative Writing student at the UoB, wanted to take a PGCE and become a teacher, but now has no idea if she will even graduate this summer. Disciplinary action is also being taken against Ali, after she attended the protest outside the Investments Committee meeting last year.
She told the Canary:
As students, we’re taught you get educated to get a good job, have critical thinking, and also to make the world a better place. How am I going to make the world a better place, when the university I learn and study at is involved in a genocide? I feel the university is a complicit institution, because it has research partnerships, working with arms companies that fund and give weapons to Israel. I didn’t sign up to be involved in that when I came to the University of Birmingham. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have come, but now that I do have that information, I feel that we, as students, have a moral responsibility to fight that.
After 15 minutes of chanting, being told to leave, and photographed by a staff member, Ali says the meeting stopped and staff left through a back door. Shortly afterwards, the students decided it was now not worth continuing, so they stopped the protest and left.
Two weeks went by, before Ali received a disciplinary letter from the university, the only member of the protest to get one. This was followed, in June, by an interview in which Ali was accused of being intimidating, using offensive language and disrupting the university’s business.
“The point of a protest is to be disruptive. However, I did deny the fact that I was intimidating or threatening in any way, as protesting against genocide definitely isn’t intimidating, and it’s my right! It feels like the university is trying to target specific individuals and use us as examples to scare the rest of the student movement on campus,” she says.
Ali claims she then emailed the university, asking for timelines and evidence, but received no reply.
In September, after hearing nothing, and not even knowing if she could go into her final year with a disciplinary, Ali again messaged the university. This time they responded, saying she could go into her final year and keep studying, while they investigate.
Taking dissenting voices to court
Back in summer, UoB took its students to court, in an effort to shut down their pro-Palestine encampment on its grounds – a move which Ali described at the time as a ‘censoring tactic’. The university won, so Ali, who was the only named defendant, was required to pay the legal fees – which amounted to £60,000. She instead signed a contract with the university, in which she forfeited her rights to protest on campus. If there is a breach of contract, not only will Ali have to pay the £60K fine but she will also get a criminal conviction.
Ali told the Canary:
They say I can’t be involved in any ‘unauthorised’ protest – but they haven’t highlighted what an unauthorised protest actually is. I have only been participating in the student-staff ones, as these have been organised by the unions and so there is a level of safety involved here.
It’s been hard because security know who I am, and I know they are watching me. These things are all happening at the same time to me, and I’m in my final year. It’s affected me mentally, and very much academically. Unlike other universities, the University of Birmingham has no timeframe for disciplinary processes, and it’s not possible to graduate with an ongoing disciplinary. I don’t feel the uni is following the procedures.
This has been ongoing since my second year but, during the whole process, they’re not giving me any evidence for what I’ve been accused of. The only thing they mentioned in the interview is that they have eyewitness statements from Student Affairs.
Earlier this month, she was told her disciplinary had been escalated, and she had been found guilty of breaking the rules. The news came as Ali and Listrat are increasing their efforts to get justice. They have not only launched a petition – which they hope everyone will sign – calling on the UoB to drop the disciplinary action against then, uphold free speech, and end the repression of pro-Palestine student activism on campus, but have also set up the UoB 2 Campaign. Their campaigns have gained the support of many people, including Jeremy Corbyn MP, the musician Brian Eno, and UN Special Rapporteur, Gina Romero:
The UN view on the University of Birmingham
As UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, Romero is committed to promoting and protecting these rights worldwide. According to her, the response of universities to pro-Palestine solidarity protests has ‘exposed a hostile environment for the exercise of fundamental rights, including freedom of peaceful assembly and association’.
Romero told the Canary:
Reports of violence, harassment, and academic reprisals against students and faculty—particularly Palestinian and Arab individuals—severely undermine freedom of expression and discourage public participation.
This risks alienating a generation and eroding trust in democratic processes. I have specifically raised concerns with the University of Birmingham about allegations of harassment and disciplinary actions tied to its protest authorization system, which appears to conflict with international standards on the right to peaceful protest. To date, I have not received a response.
Universities must recognize that their responsibility extends beyond campus borders – their actions have the potential to shape political discourse, culture, civic education, and ultimately, the future sustainability of democracy, freedoms and human rights.
The University of Birmingham was contacted for comment on the above points, and also asked why they have, so far, failed to respond to respond to the letter from Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur.
A University of Birmingham spokesperson came back to us with this expected reply:
The University of Birmingham has a very strong and longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and academic freedom – supported by our Code of Practice. In the last term alone, supported by our Freedom of Speech process, several activities, events, and protests organised by those wishing to express their support of Palestine, as well as a range of other issues of concern to members of the University community, have taken place on campus. We are unable to comment on active case matters involving individual students.
‘Indifference’
According to Dr Lucie Ryzova, Senior Lecturer in Middle East History at UoB, and a BUCU Committee Member, the failure to think critically – and push back against censorship and self-censorship alike – is what enables the banality of evil.
Ryzova says her colleagues’ apparent indifference to the genocide in Gaza – either through fear of being accused of antisemitism, or the misguided perception that they have a duty to support their Jewish friends and colleagues – have left her feeling angry, deeply disenchanted, and increasingly alienated from her white British academic colleagues.
She told the Canary:
At this point, this is either due to ignorance or covert racism. The inability to distinguish between Jewishness and Zionism is as prevalent among my supposedly intellectual colleagues as it is inexcusable. These university professors are supposed to be the intelligentsia. No, they are not! They are either cowards, ignoramuses or racists. It is blatantly obvious that Israel is a fascist regime, bent on realizing the ‘final solution’ for the Palestinians. Support for it among many white Western audiences is really about maintaining white supremacy.
University management has attempted to intimidate and silence Ryzova several times. In one instance, she was called to the office of her ‘line manager’ to talk about a ‘matter of concern’. It turned out that she made a Zionist student feel ‘uncomfortable’, while teaching her specialist topic, modern Egypt:
My line manager said I needed to make sure all my students feel ‘comfortable’, but I said nope. We teach slavery, which makes some white people feel uncomfortable; does that mean we are not supposed to teach it? Or suppose a colleague teaches about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are we supposed to take the Russian perspective into account and care about the feelings of Russian people in the room?
But Ryzova says there was another incident, this time a ‘painful and revengeful’ one, ‘which had been prepared a long time ago, and came out of nowhere’.
University of Birmingham: maintaining white supremacy?
As part of an informal departmental seminar, which did not need permission as it was behind closed doors and had no outside guests, they had a debate on Gaza. But it did not go well.
Ryzova, says she was yelled at by a Zionist colleague, who said Gaza should not be discussed. The incident faded away but, nine months later, in October 2024, when she organized and chaired the seminar as usual, there was a misunderstanding between two of her colleagues, which had nothing to do with politics:
My line manager sent me a message saying I wasn’t doing my job properly, and we needed to rethink the seminar because of past complaints against my organizing and chairing of it. They said I was creating an ‘insufficiently inclusive environment’. I fought back, and brought testimonies by many colleagues saying the opposite, but to no avail. So, they’ve closed down the whole seminar, because in January 2024 I spoke about Gaza. It’s like they’d been waiting all that time for the right opportunity to shut me down.
Although the academic futures of Ali and Listrat futures are uncertain, they hope a public outcry may lead to the disciplinary actions being dropped, as has recently happened at the London School of Economics (LSE). Disciplinary action it took against seven of its students has ended, after a powerful campaign and huge public outcry. LSE had banned the students from campus, and given them disciplinary action after a protest over LSE’s investments in companies complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Featured image and additional image supplied
