Responding to student activism

Last summer, along with many other universities in the UK, we experienced a student encampment on the lawns of Main Building. A coalition of students, from Cardiff and other Welsh universities, called on the University to respond to a series of demands around ceasing our relationship with a range of companies, support for Palestinian staff and students, and rebuilding Palestinian education.

There were many staff and students who supported the encampment. There were others who found the camp – and particularly some of the behaviour demonstrated within it and on campus – distressing or threatening. The University needed to balance the right to protest, freedom of speech, the health and safety of the protestors, and the right of all staff and students to feel safe, and that they belong, at Cardiff.

Universities have a critical role in the debate on the most difficult of questions. Cardiff University should be a space where the toughest conversations are able to happen. These principles are not only enshrined in law, but they also get to the heart of what it means to be an academic institution. That debate needs to happen within spaces that are safe, where all our views can be both expressed, and challenged, with dignity and respect. Universities should be neutral arbiters, facilitating and supporting peaceful but open debate.

We entered into dialogue with the encampment, facilitated by the Students’ Union, which resulted in its voluntary disbandment in July. We want to be honest and say that we are no longer in dialogue with the group, following a series of incidents, both at protests and online, where behaviour towards members of our community, particularly our frontline staff, has not been acceptable.

In July, we agreed to a series of commitments that we felt were in the interests of all members of our community, and which we could achieve while protecting freedom of speech and academic freedom. We were clear that we would follow through with these commitments, and have been making progress on these over the summer and since.

So far, we have:

• published the University’s investment holdings. We had already confirmed that the University did not hold direct or indirect investment in any of the companies listed by the encampment, nor indirect or direct investments in any of the UN’s Database Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 31/36, which was updated on 30 June 2023. We do not hold investments in Israeli sovereign debt
• confirmed that the University has not received any anonymous donations from organisations in at least the last ten years, and that all donations by organisations can be found on the donor roll
• doubled the number of asylum seeker scholarships available from 6 to 12
• agreed to host a displaced academic from Gaza, in agreement with the Campaign for At-Risk Academics (CARA)
• finalised Memoranda of Understanding with An-Najah University and the Arab American University of Palestine, and joined the TESI initiative to support the rebuilding of Palestinian education
• communicated the ways in which all staff and students affected by this conflict, or by events across the globe, can access support
• developed culturally sensitive wellbeing and counselling drop-in sessions across our student support pathways

In December we will join with other Russell Group Universities in Glasgow to collectively develop plans to support the reconstruction of Higher Education in Gaza when the time is right.

Principles for research partnerships have now been confirmed at University Research Committee; further developments of broader principles for partnership, collaboration and funding are also being drafted.

We have also committed to:

• reviewing the University’s Student Futures Code of Ethics, which would include alignment with principles from the Funding Advisory Panel

We are really only in the foothills of considering these thorny issues for Cardiff. While we have staff and students who would like us to withdraw from any interactions with business associated with the arms industry, others worry that we could set precedents that could impede on our academic freedom. Similarly, although some of our members want us to ban companies associated with the arms industry from campus, others feel that students have the right to choose, and should be able to make their own, informed decisions. We will need to engage in more dialogue and debate before reaching a position that works for Cardiff’s community.

We will commit to continuing to engage with the student body, through the Students’ Union, and with our staff, on developing and shaping the reviews into definitions of armaments and the Code of Ethics. If you have any thoughts or would like to contribute to the review, please do get in touch with me (SandersonP@cardiff.ac.uk) – we are particularly keen to draw upon Cardiff’s own expertise.

Further reading:

• Wonke: There are ways for UK universities to help in Gaza as they did in Ukraine