‘Woke' university accused of no-platforming academic over Israel views
Prof Eric Kaufmann was invited to participate in a debate with other professors by the Cardiff Academic Freedom Association (CAFA) at the city's university last month.
However, a coalition of Left-wing groups organised a protest over his attendance, accusing him of being a 'genocide apologist'.
As a result, CAFA was hit with a £1,300 bill by university officials to cover the costs of security for the event. Prof Kaufmann criticised the university's decision as 'cowardly', saying it was 'horrible' to charge the group.
'Basically, it's a spineless administration,' he said. 'They are trying to no-platform people whilst claiming they are not no-platforming people. This is a classic example of no-platforming. We are all told woke is dead, but clearly it's not.'
The Canadian professor of political science at the University of Buckingham has been accused of being a 'genocide apologist' over his views on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In a recent post to X, he wrote: 'A number of things can be true at once: 1) Hamas are violent terrorists; 2) Many Palestinians support Hamas for tribal reasons, against their interests; 3) Israel has the right to defend itself, but; 4) Israel is committing atrocities and must rise above to end spiral of violence.'
In response to CAFA inviting Prof Kaufmann to debate, groups including Cardiff Stop The War Coalition, Caerdydd Students for Palestine, Europe Palestine Network, Stand Up 4 Palestine and Black Lives Matter Cardiff organised protests.
In a poster circulated on social media they wrote: 'Eric Kaufmann calls student protest a threat to free speech – but he uses his platform to excuse genocide in Palestine and smear student voices as anti-Semitic.
'He talks about 'cancel culture' but denies mass slaughter. He defends 'debate' while vilifying dissent. We're here to call him out and to show that our free speech matters too. Join the protest.'
Irrespective of the protests, Prof Kaufmann was unable to attend the event for personal reasons. However, CAFA still had to pay the security bill of £1,341.12 on top of room hire at £300.
University of Oxford professors Nigel Biggar, from the Faculty of Theology and Religion, and Naomi Waltham-Smith, from the Faculty of Music, and Prof Jo Phoenix, a professor of criminology from the University of Reading, attended the debate.
Prof Alice Sullivan, a gender critical academic and professor of sociology at University College London, who authored a report concluding that UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and career-threatening restrictions on their research, also criticised Cardiff University.
'That's a pattern of behaviour from Cardiff,' she said. 'They [CAFA] are not an external group. Universities should be facilitating academics to hold these kinds of events, not putting barriers in their path.'
A CAFA spokesman said that its members 'have been the subject of extreme threats' and confirmed that the Free Speech Union met the charge of more than £1,600, enabling the debate to go ahead.
They added: 'For the second year running, Cardiff University imposed a disproportionately high charge for room hire and security. We are disappointed with this decision. As far as we are aware, this is not common practice in British universities and, in our opinion, it does not help advance academic freedom at Cardiff University.'
A Cardiff University spokesman said: 'CAFA is strictly independent of the university. It is not affiliated to the university. This is confirmed on their website. Therefore, any request to book a room at the university for a CAFA event would be managed by the university's conferencing and events team as it will be considered as an external event not as an internal university event.
'The university conferencing and events team discuss costs, invoicing, organisation, logistics and will liaise with other university teams such as compliance and risk, campus security, room bookings, as to the specific requirements required to run the event.
'This is done in accordance with our code of practice on freedom of speech and our event and external speaker policy. The speakers, organisation and management of the event – including any associated costs like additional security – would be for CAFA to manage.
'This was made clear to CAFA on both occasions they've held speaking events at the university. CAFA agreed to abide by the expected standards of conduct set out in our code of practice and meet all the associated costs.
'The university will not unreasonably refuse to allow events unless a conflicting legal provision is identified as a reason to refuse or restrict an event. In line with our commitment to freedom of speech we have a duty to enable challenging issues to be discussed provided it's done within the law, and with respect and tolerance.'
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