(Photo credit: Twitter)

Harun Nasrullah

A Danish Professor of Palestinian studies has cancelled an appearance at Glasgow University after management asked to vet his lecture to ensure that it did not break anti terrorism laws.

Dr Somdeep Sen, Associate Professor in International Development Studies at Roskilde University in Copenhagen, Denmark, was due to speak this month on his new work, Decolonizing Palestine, but announced he would no longer be taking part.

His decision comes after the university asked him to share contents of his speech ahead of the event and to ensure his talk did not breach UK terror laws. The university’s request to review Dr Sen’s material before the talk came after Glasgow University’s Jewish Society filed a complaint against the upcoming lecture, alleging it was anti-Semitic and would endanger Jewish students. Protocols on managing speakers were then activated.

Dr Sen, who has presented his book at a number of universities around the world without issue, claimed the university’s handling of his talk had been “extremely disappointing and alarming” and pulled out after questions about the handling of the situation went unanswered. He said claims his talk was anti-Semitic were made without basis and were potentially damaging to his reputation.

Dr Sen said: “It creates a chilling effect that discourages open scholarly discussion of the politics of Israel-Palestine and this will have consequences for the academic freedom on campus.

“As a leading UK research university and member of the prestigious Russell Group, the university’s actions are all the more troubling, by setting an example for others to follow.”

Glasgow University said it had not stopped Dr Sen from speaking and that it supported academic freedom and equality across campus.

The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) and the European International Studies Association have publicly supported Dr Sen and the Glasgow branch of the University College Union has put forward a motion in solidarity.

Dr Sen said the situation took a “bizarre” turn when he was told his talk could go ahead, as long as he did not say anything which breached anti-terror legislation given the IQB, the military wing of Hamas, is a proscribed terror organisation in the UK.

Dr Sen added: “The book engages in a scholarly discussion of the armed and civilian operations of Hamas as an organization. Such a discussion doesn’t violate anti-terror laws in the UK.”

Last month, the university received a petition signed by more than 500 people claiming it undermined academic freedom by describing an article as antisemitic. Signatories argued criticism of Israel should not be conflated with antisemitism.

A spokesperson for Glasgow University told The Muslim News Dr Sen “didn’t have to cancel, in fact the University actively encouraged him to give his lecture but he chose not to.” And that the University “is committed to supporting academic freedom and promoting equality and diversity across campus. Freedom of expression, the right to disagree, the protection of all staff and students in their right to hold views and of academic freedom are at the heart of our mission.

“We have written to BRISMES in response to its letter and stressed that we have not prohibited any academic at the University, nor have we prevented Dr Sen from doing so.”

Dr Sen branded both statements “misleading.” He told The Muslim News, “I was willing to deliver the talk despite the defamatory allegations, the procedural failures and the discriminatory treatment I was subjected to by the University of Glasgow. As I have stated in my correspondence with Glasgow I’m also firmly committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech and will not bow down to intimidation. However, as the second BRISMES letter made clear, there were some clear conditions the University needed to fulfill for me to deliver the talk.

For one thing, the University needed to issue an apology for the way it has handled the case before I was willing to deliver the scheduled talk. The BRISMES letter also insisted that all internal communications regarding my talk be made public in order to ensure that there is full transparency on what occurred in order to ensure that the proper lessons are learned from this case. The University fulfilled none of these conditions and I was therefore forced by their actions to pull out of the talk.”

He also described the university’s claim to be committed to supporting academic freedom and promoting equality and diversity on its campus as “at best an empty platitude and at worst misleading” as exemplified by “all of its actions in handling my talk show”.

“For instance, in its response to BRISMES, it has repeatedly failed to even so much as acknowledge BRISMES’ concerns, let alone do anything to show a serious interest in resolving them.

Their response to BRISMES’s second letter, which was 3.5 pages in length, the University of Glasgow devoted 8 lines to denying the University’s response was unlawful, discriminatory or in violation of my academic freedom and free speech. In this denial the University showed a total lack of any good faith effort to take seriously the concerns of the single most authoritative scholarly body in the field of Middle Eastern Studies in the UK. The University also provided the classic non-apology saying that they were ‘sorry that Professor Sen feels he has been badly treated by the University’”.

No response was received from Glasgow University regarding whether it had a policy of reviewing speeches by guests prior to the latest row.

Glasgow University supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is stated as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews”.

Universities have been forced to sign up but some have questioned the definition’s practical use in determining guilt as well as its impact on academic inquiry.

Following threats of Government sanctions, over 200 higher education providers in England have adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism that places limits on criticism of Israel, a report has found.

According to the Office for Students (OfS), a total of 216 post-secondary institutions in the country have signed up to the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism over the past year.

The higher education regulator released figures on November 10 that showed 95 universities have now adopted the IHRA definition – a significant increase from the 28 universities who had signed on as of September 2020, according to Union of Jewish Students (UJS) research.

After the UJS stated that some 80 universities had no plans to adopt it, former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson criticised the “shamefully low” figures in October 2020 and warned that the OfS would take action – including freezing “funding streams” – if universities did not sign on by December.

Kesem Iglinsky-Frenkel, President of the Glasgow University’s Jewish Society told The Muslim News the society will not comment on the row with Dr Sen.