The SUCU branch committee have growing concerns around the repression of discussion about Palestine and the ongoing violence in the Middle East within our University. You may have heard about our planned teach-in for the 1st of October that was advertised in our email dated 27th September. Unfortunately, it was prevented from going ahead. We want to explain why and ask for your support in supporting freedom of speech on campus, including educational talks relating to Palestine and for academics who research and teach on this topic.
On 18th September we put in a booking request for a lecture theatre to hold an internal University of Sheffield teach-in for University students titled ‘What Is Happening in Gaza?’ delivered by University staff members who have expertise in this area. The motive was to have an academic discussion on the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and to support our members’ work and research in this area. There were no external speakers invited, and therefore the University’s external speakers procedure did not apply.
We received no response about the booking, despite a reminder sent on the 25th September. We again called up the room booking team as UCU and got a room booked on the 27th. However, we were contacted by University Security on the day before the teach-in was due to take place to tell us that it could not go ahead. Security cited a new ‘events safety guidance’ document, introduced in April 2024, which requires a risk assessment to be conducted for events organised by staff that do “not fall within the normal work duties or study activities at the University of Sheffield. Examples of events include, but are not limited to:
• Ceremonies and celebrations
• Conferences
• Open days
• Fairs
• Networking events
• Team building events.
• Talks, exhibitions, demonstrations, and performances aimed at the general public”
As an internally facing set of talks, given by members of staff at this University for staff and students of this University, and on subjects researched and taught on by the staff giving these talks, we refute that this guidance is in fact relevant for the teach-in, or any research seminar. Even were the University to decide that the guidance is relevant, there was no mention made of needing a risk assessment until the day prior to the event, despite weeks of communication regarding the room booking. Moreover, the policy has been written with schools and services in mind, and does not adequately reflect the structures of the campus trade unions. As such, we would have expected a discussion via our main negotiating body with management about how the trade unions are expected to adhere to it, as happened for the External Speaker Approval Policy.
Lastly, in communications with security, repeated reference was made to the topic of the talk being ‘controversial’, which seems to uniquely and problematically pick out specific types of research. This represents a significant overreach which infringes on academic freedom and the University’s obligations under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, as well as the University’s own Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom policy, which was written to enforce its obligations under this Act. We are concerned that this policy will be used to silence positions that are deemed ‘controversial’ rather than to protect staff, students, and other campus visitors, placing considerable additional barriers in front of conducting what is, essentially, an academic research seminar.
The cancelled event was in keeping with motions on Palestine passed by Sheffield UCU and is a continuation of the activities and events the branch has supported over the past year. During this time we have experienced increasing intervention by University Security which has obstructed these activities. This has included moving booked venues last minute, insisting that security staff with body cams are present and are able to conduct bag searches, and requiring the identification of staff and students attending events.
We have had members be in touch with concerns about similar barriers being placed on email lists and other forms of communications with other staff and students. Taking all of this together, there is deeply concerning progression from this University wherein critical discussion of the situation in Gaza appears to be automatically deemed to present risk, a position that amounts to profiling and that infringes upon freedom of academic thought and pedagogic expression as protected in HE(FoS)A 2023.
The branch committee will be raising these concerns with management in relation to the Freedom of Speech/Academic Freedom Policy, and in relation to the ways in which the new ‘Events safety guidance’ policy is being applied.
The teach-in has been postponed for now, but we hope to communicate a new date as soon as possible.
The below email was sent to VC Koen Lamberts on Friday 24th May.
Dear Professor Lamberts,
I am writing with regard to several serious issues raised by staff at the University. Over recent months, we have expressed concerns in negotiations with Human Resources regarding the University’s continued affiliation with Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch. Rabbi Deutsch has produced public materials in relation to the ongoing violent conflict in Gaza. We believe the content of these materials is at odds with the stated values of the University of Sheffield, including the objectives of the Belief, No Belief, and Religious Life Centre, and principles outlined in the Staff and Student Codes of Conduct.
It has been particularly disappointing to be told in negotiations that the University does not intend to discuss our concerns because the BNBR Centre is not considered to be part of the terms and conditions of staff employment at this University. This position sidelines the important role of the Centre as a source of support for the entire University community, including staff, and overlooks the fact that the Centre is itself a place of work for employees who we represent and who deserve to feel safe.
At our most recent General Meeting, members brought a motion which passed without opposition, which I have linked to here. Staff, as well as students, from a wide range of faith backgrounds, are expressing risks to their wellbeing and sense of safety that are posed by Rabbi Deutsch’s continued presence at the University, and the incompatibility of this with our commitment to religious tolerance and non-violence. In the interests of promoting safety, inclusivity, and opposing all forms of intolerance, we are calling on the University to reconsider its affiliation with Rabbi Deutsch.
We also query the University of Sheffield management’s lack of meaningful engagement with the student and staff members who are currently taking part in and supporting the encampment on the SU Concourse. These members of our University community are taking part in protest over a critical and ongoing humanitarian crisis which our University cannot and should not ignore, as well as our relationship to the military industrial complex both in general and in relation to this conflict.
The management of other Universities, including at Goldsmiths, University of London and many in other countries, have taken a more productive and proactive approach to encampments on their campus, and have reached agreements that directly address the issues raised by protestors. In contrast, the management of this University does not seem to have met at all with those engaged in protest over extreme and ongoing violence, although I would welcome correction on this point if meetings have occurred that I am not aware of.
While your recent email to staff clarified the legal standing of our University’s research programmes and emphasised a commitment to transparency, it did not itself offer transparency on the university’s investments, nor did it seem to address the key ethical and moral issues that are currently being raised by staff and students. This email explicitly asserts the rights of academic staff (under the aegis of academic freedom of speech) to conduct research on “any subject within the law”: in particular, without any requirements as to ethics or propriety. This assertion seems incompatible with agreements to which the university is a signatory (including but not limited to the Universities UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity), as well as with disciplinary or regulatory codes for research ethics. Academic activity is governed by ethical codes, regardless of whether it is technically within the law; so too should be the university’s provision of staff- and student-facing services.
We are additionally alarmed by the all-staff email of 14 May on the topic of the encampment, which reminded readers not of the reason for the protest, but rather provided information on how to report harassment and bullying, while downplaying the ongoing genocide as ‘a situation’.
We would welcome the chance to speak with you regarding these issues as representatives of staff at the University of Sheffield, but with greater urgency, would prefer that you engage meaningfully with our staff and students who are supporting the encampment and have founded Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine, to discuss and address the foundational issues they have raised about the priorities, goals, and future vision of this University.
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Robyn Orfitelli
Sheffield UCU Branch President
Response from Ian Wright 30th May 2024
From: Ian Wright
Date: Thu, 30 May 2024 at 15:06
Subject: Re: Concerns regarding recent University positions
To: Ucu Trade Union Account
Dear Robyn
The Vice-Chancellor has forwarded me your email and asked me to respond.
The University seeks to support its community of students and staff irrespective of their beliefs, religion or views. We aim to provide an environment on our campus where all can feel safe and welcomed. We know that this can sometimes be difficult when people’s views and values are challenged.
We also have a duty to uphold freedom of speech within the law. It is recognised that sometimes people will have different opinions and will potentially find the views of others to be disagreeable or offensive. We encourage debate with tolerance, openness and respect to avoid the risk of conflict. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, bullying, Islamophobia, anti-semitism or any other form of racism or religious hatred.
As you know, Rabbi Deutsch is not a member of staff of the University. We continue to engage with his employers, the University Jewish Chaplaincy, to ensure that appropriate support can be provided to those students who wish to access their offering. Whilst Rabbi Deutsch has not been present on our campus since he returned from Israel earlier this year, we also signpost our Jewish students to two other local faith advisers – one Jewish Chaplain and one Jewish Adviser from different denominations of Judaism.
We also provide appropriate support for students of other religions or beliefs and those who do not follow a religion or belief.
You will be aware that the provision of chaplaincy support to our students, and who provides that support (particularly where they are not an employee of the University) are not matters that fall within the scope of our agreed trade union recognition agreement. It is therefore not something we would negotiate or consult with the Trade Union body on.
In relation to the protest, you are aware that the Vice-Chancellor recently wrote to all staff regarding the issues relating to our ongoing work with a number of external partners and that remains the University position.
The University respects the right of its students to engage in peaceful protest. Our actions have been focused on facilitating this and supporting the safety of those who are protesting, as well as those who are not.
The University’s Israel Gaza conflict webpage (hyperlink), contains a range of information, support and guidance for staff and students affected by the conflict. Please feel free to share this with any members who have concerns or queries regarding the conflict, the protests currently on campus and the University’s position and how we are supporting people from across our community.
Sheffield UCU is intending to expand its work in the field of Health and Safety (H&S), both by increasing our team of H&S reps, and also by raising awareness among members of what your H&S rights are, and how you can advocate for them. While the legal rights of workers have been significantly reduced since the end of the 1970s, H&S legislation remains relatively strong and provides significant opportunities for collective representation in ways that make a real difference to all those working at and attending the University. Trade Union H&S representatives are therefore an important role in all workplaces, and have a legal right to time off to perform their duties.
This activity is not limited to matters such as ensuring fire exits are kept clear, hazardous substances are handled correctly and tripping hazards are removed, but many areas that impinge in the daily operation of the institution, including stress and mental health problems, which have reached epidemic proportions across the HE sector. In the past, employer response to workplace stress has often unfortunately been to treat it as a solely individual issue, rather than recognising the systemic and collective causes which can underpin it.
Stress Risk Assessments at the University
Employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress at work by undertaking a risk assessment and acting on it. They are required to assess the risk of stress, and its impact on mental and physical ill-health, in the same way as other work-related health and safety risks.
In recent years, we have worked with the new leadership of Health and Safety Services to develop a Stress Risk Management policy to ensure the university is compliant with its obligations.
Stress management includes addressing matters of excessive workload, inadequate training, bullying and other institutional problems with which we are only too familiar. Given the large-scale restructuring underway at the institution, it is essential we know our rights and hold management to account on these questions, and that means we need more people actively taking a role in H&S matters.
Constructive engagement in the approach to H&S
There has been a significant improvement in the institution’s management of H&S in the last two years, and this has provided opportunities for constructive engagement.
During the pandemic Campus Unions pushed the University to increase ventilation, install CO2 monitors in naturally ventilated spaces and issue staff guidance on reporting risk and vacating unsafe working spaces. After very strong initial resistance, we managed to achieve these things, which form a crucial part of protecting people not only from COVID-19 but also influenza and the other respiratory infections that are common across the institution.
We need to build on these achievements and ensure the University is a safe place to work and study, but we cannot rely on management to prioritise staff welfare when institutional pressures are to maximise workloads and marginalise professional concerns in order to compete with ‘rivals’.
Become a Health & Safety Rep
H&S representatives are essential to participate in inspections, sometimes alongside management, but often independently, to hold them to account. We need to ensure all risk assessments are, in the legal language, ‘suitable and sufficient,’ and that the policies we have negotiated are being adhered to. We need people to participate in departmental H&S meetings and to ensure staff priorities are being taken seriously.
If you are interested in getting involved in H&S work, or becoming a H&S rep, please do get in touch, via ucu@sheffield.ac.uk
Employers have an obligation to provide time off normal duties for TU representatives to perform H&S duties – such vital work can be carried out in addition to your day job, but workload remission is essential. Depending on the level at which you are prepared to be involved, UCU provides a range of training, which the employer must also enable you to attend. This might range from shadowing experienced representatives on an inspection to attending a formal course run by the regional union – it is up to you to decide how much you want to be involved, but at all levels of involvement, the work is meaningful and makes a real difference to all colleagues.
Sheffield UCU member Tim Herrick (Senior University Teacher, School of Education) recently attendeda seminar organised by Leeds Occupational Health Advisory Service, entitled “Long Covid and Employment: overcoming challenges“. His report is below.
In the seminar we heard from a range of speakers, focusing on people living with Long Covid and medical professionals involved in supporting them. The emphasis throughout was on understanding what was happening for individuals with this condition; symptoms vary so much within the patient group and across time, that the safest recommendation is to focus on what is happening for this individual at this moment.
The figures around Long Covid are startling; there’s an estimated 2 million people living with Long Covid in the UK, and 36 million across Europe; and in the UK, more working days are lost due to Long Covid than to any other condition. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that Long Covid may have resulted in the loss of 4.4 million working hours per week in the UK.
The strength of hearing directly from people with the condition was understanding the impact of these figures in the context of individual lives; for instance, one speaker was a GP who had previously run 5 sessions per week. In an attempted return to work after Long Covid, she ran one session; and was so exhausted, she spent the next three weeks in bed.
There isn’t a clear set of symptoms associated with Long Covid, although fatigue, breathlessness, and tachycardia (accelerated heartbeat) are found more often than most. And while there isn’t a clear treatment programme for the condition overall, real progress can be made with these individual symptoms, for instance, through medication that helps regulate heartbeat.
If colleagues, union reps, or caseworkers are supporting someone with Long Covid, especially if they are having difficulties staying in or returning to work, there are some basic principles of good practice it might be useful to remember:
Each individual’s experience is different, including their set of symptoms and concomitant support needs. Attend, therefore, to their experiences, and recognise that the forms that effective support might take are likely to vary over time.
Too rigid an approach to institutional processes may also not be helpful – the duration of phased returns might need to be flexed, the reasonable adjustments required might need to be wide-ranging and adaptable, and regular communication between the member and their managers is likely to be key.
There’s the old medical dictum of seeing the patient not the illness; each person with Long Covid will be experiencing it in slightly different ways, and there will be a whole set of possible intersections with previous conditions or lifestyle factors. There is also likely to be psychological impact; as one of the experts by experience put it in the seminar, “The fatigue I face isn’t just being tired, it’s life changing“.
Friday March 15th is International Long Covid Awareness day, and I’d welcome suggestions from colleagues in the branch as to whether we might do anything to mark this event.
The following motion was passed by Sheffield UCU at the general meeting held on 16/11/2023.
Motion to End the Violence in Palestine, Support Palestinian Rights, Protect Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression and Oppose all Racism
Sheffield UCU notes:
The recent upsurge in appalling violence in Israel-Palestine has claimed around 1400 Israeli lives and over 10,000 Palestinian lives (at the time of writing); and is causing the on-going displacement of more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip;
The Nakba, the violent dispossession of Palestinian people from their land by Israel, has been ongoing since 1948. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank have been living under Israeli military occupation since 1967, whilst Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been living under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007;
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, Al-Haq and the past four out of five UN Special Rapporteurs on the state of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have stated that Palestinians are living under a regime of apartheid;
The UK government is complicit in the dispossession of Palestinians and has actively endorsed and materially supported this ongoing regime of apartheid and the current war crimes and crimes against humanity being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territory;
The colonial, racist and genocidal narratives articulated by Israeli state officials to systematically dehumanise Palestinians, including categorising Palestinians as barbarians, animals and terrorists; and the uncritical adoption of such narratives, discourses and categories in UK public life.
The UK’s complicity has also entailed increasingly aggressive attempts to censor people demanding an end to Palestinian oppression, including those at UK universities whose experiences have recently been highlighted by the British Society for Middle East Studies (BRISMES) and UCU national.
Increases in racism, including antisemitism and Islamophobia, in the UK and beyond.
Sheffield UCU believes that:
The targeting of civilians by any party should be condemned as a war crime;
Israel’s cutting off of the entry of supplies to Gaza, which has left civilians without food, water, electricity, and medical aid; its targeting of civilians, hospitals, schools, border crossings and other civilian infrastructure; and its attempts to forcibly transfer the population from the north of Gaza, may amount to genocide;
Israeli occupation and apartheid must end and the internationally-recognised rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination must be realised;
It is unacceptable to equate all Jewish people with the Israeli state, and it is unacceptable to equate all Palestinians and Arabs with Hamas. Members should be able to express support for Palestinians and Palestine as well as Israelis and Israel, and everyone must be free to criticise governments around the world. In this case in particular, it is important that people are able to criticise the Israeli government without accusations of antisemitism;
Trade unions can play a role – and are being urged by Palestinian trade unions – to pressure the UK government to end its complicity in the on-going occupation of Palestine, the expansion of settlement construction and the war crimes committed against the Palestinian people;
UK universities, including the University of Sheffield, must not be complicit with war crimes and crimes against humanity and, as upheld in a SUCU branch motion on 8 June 2021, must immediately end all ties with entities involved in the perpetration of grave violations of human rights, including developing weaponry, military doctrines and legal justifications for the mass targeting of Palestinians.
Sheffield UCU resolves to:
Demand that the UK government call for an immediate ceasefire, most urgently an end to the military offensive by the Israeli state on Gaza, and call for the UK government to stop selling weapons to Israel
Affiliate with the Sheffield Coalition against Israeli Apartheid
Actively support efforts to build local and national solidarity with Palestine, including, but not limited to, teach-outs, walk-outs, petitions, protests, support in promoting such events, allowing the use of the Sheffield UCU banner, and the sending of solidarity messages and delegates from the Branch;
Reiterate branch support for the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, including the Palestinian Academic Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel; and develop a plan of concrete actions, including pledging to support and defend the right of members to refuse any work connected to the Israeli state or military;
Urgently create a working group to take forward the motion “Ending University Partnerships with Arms Manufacturers”, passed at the Sheffield UCU Annual General Meeting, 25 February 2023, in response to the Palestinian trade unions’ call to end military support for and trade with Israel;
Call on the VC to publicly affirm Sheffield University’s commitment to protecting academic freedom and freedom of speech with regards to expressions of solidarity with Palestinians, to offer identical support and freedom of speech guarantees to Palestinian students, staff and advocates as was offered to the people and supporters of Ukraine when they were made victims of imperial aggression, and to urge other Universities UK to do the same;
Call on the VC to respond to the Secretary of State for Education’s letter (dated 11 October 2023), pushing back on the dangerous implications of the letter in expanding the hostile environment on university campuses, stifling the protected right to free speech, and undermining universities’ duty of care to all students and staff;
Provide support to staff and students censored, harassed, and/or disciplined for expressing support for Palestinian rights;
Affirm national UCU’s call for members to withdraw from all voluntary positions with UKRI until such time as UKRI reverses its suspension of its EDI panel;
Oppose all forms of racism, including antisemitism and Islamophobia;
Send this motion to members of the NEC and to the General Secretary.