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Professor Hugh Brady

President and Vice-Chancellor

University of Bristol

Dear Professor Brady,

It is with a sense of horror and fear that we write to you following the University of Bristol’s decision to dismiss Professor David Miller.

Professor Miller’s exceptional work has exposed the ways in which power operates within society and how racism is fomented. It was surely on the basis of this excellent track record that the University of Bristol took the decision to employ him in 2018. Since then, Professor Miller has been the subject of a sustained campaign to have him removed from his post. 

We have watched as a furore has been whipped up, including defamatory accusations of anti-Semitism on Professor Miller’s part and erroneous suggestions that he had ‘targeted’ or ‘harassed’ students through his comments. Muted by the investigation process, Professor Miller was unable to defend himself, and the University seemed unwilling to protect a member of its staff.

We understand that intense pressure was brought to bear on the University, led by the pro-Israel lobby in the UK, including questions in Parliament, hostile media and a campaign intended to persuade benefactors to withhold their donations. From the public statement made by the University, it is clear that Professor Miller was not found guilty of making any unlawful or anti-Semitic comments, but that he was dismissed for expressing legitimate, if controversial, views based on his research. This case sets a precedent that it is permissible to sack established academic staff for expressing lawful opinions, grounded in a recognised body of scholarly work, in political meetings unrelated to their employment. We cannot allow this line to be crossed.

We state here that academic freedom includes the freedom to state unpalatable truths underpinned by evidence. Freedom of speech means nothing if it does not include the freedom to cause offence. It would cause immense damage to the University of Bristol if it is perceived as an institution that limits academic freedom or freedom of speech.

We are concerned that the dismissal of Professor Miller has emboldened the lobbyists who demanded it. On 7 October, a leader in the Jewish Chronicle revealed a wider strategy in inflammatory terms: ‘The dismissal of David Miller matters not because it is the end of the affair, but because (irrespective of whether he chooses to fight) it should mark a beginning – the point at which cranks like him start to notice that the tide is turning and their universities will no longer be able to offer them a safe space from which to spread their toxic poison’. On the same day, the paper identified 210 signatories to a letter supporting Professor Miller in 74 higher education institutions across the UK. We fear that the floodgates have been opened and that colleagues conducting research that is critical of Israel or Zionism, or sheds important light on Islamophobia or anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, will be targeted.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, in which Bristol played a central part, the University made a statement declaring that racism must be ‘eradicated’ and ‘dismantled’. It is precisely this effort in which Professor Miller has been engaged. If the University is sincere in its desire to end racism, it cannot afford to lose one of the leading voices in this fight.

We call upon you to reinstate Professor Miller.

cc:

Prof Sarah Purdy, Pro VC (Student Experience) 

Prof Tansy Jessop, Pro VC (Education) 

Mr Jack Boyer Chair, Board of Trustees 

Dr Moira Hamlin Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees 

Prof Judith Squires, Provost 

Ms Jane Bridgwater, Director of Legal Services 

Prof Simon Tormey Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

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