Sussex University responds to Jewish and Israeli faculty members’ safety fears

A Sussex University staff member has questioned a statement by its vice chancellor expressing concern for the safety of Jewish and Israeli teachers.

In a letter to Jewish News, Sussex University vice chancellor and president professor Sasha Roseneil said she was ‘concerned’ that a collective of 258 Sussex UCU members backed a motion that referred to Israel ‘war crimes’, ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide’.

Roseneil added: “The Sussex branch of UCU – one of three trade unions – is an important part of our campus community. However, UCU is not the university. As vice-chancellor, I have been clear with colleagues and students that antisemitism and all forms of racism, harassment or discrimination, are totally unacceptable. Freedom of speech and academic freedom are the precious foundations on which Sussex, like all universities, rests, and must be protected and actively advanced. I defend the right of all at Sussex to express themselves openly, with kindness, respect and within the rule of law.  However, statements by individual staff and students, or by collective bodies such as trade unions, should in no way be taken as the corporate view of the university itself.”

In response, the university staff member who made Jewish News aware of the vote, said: “From my experience, Prof Roseneil and the university leadership team have been quite good at trying to navigate the situation through various statements and staff updates.”

They added that the university is “reticent to challenge head-on the unflinching anti-Israel discourse that the union and the associated academics enforce throughout campus and in lessons. The university leadership team knows the impact the Sussex UCU motion has on Israeli and Jewish staff and students.”