UCL probes ‘secretive’ conference
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE London is investigating allegations that a conference attended by a delegate with links to white supremacists has been held on its campus for the past four years.
The university said it was seeking an explanation of a “potential breach of its booking policy” over the London Conference on Intelligence, hosted by an honorary UCL senior lecturer, Professor James Thompson.
According to a report in the London Student newspaper, the “secretive” conference was first held at UCL in 2014.
The university claimed it did not have prior notice of either the speakers or the content, adding that the LCI events were booked as an “external event”, and was not officially endorsed by the university.
A UCL spokesman said: “We are an institution that is committed to free speech but also to combating racism and sexism in all forms.
“We have suspended approval for any further conferences of this nature by the honorary lecturer and speakers pending our investigation into the case.”
UCL’s insignia has appeared on LCI publications, and within the conference’s logo on its YouTube channel.
A UNIVERSITY’S plan to host an Israeli speaker whose previous talk was halted by anti-Zionist protests has backfired, drawing an angry reaction from Jewish students who will now be barred from the event.
University College London has invited activist and ex-IDF commander Hen Mazzig to give a talk on campus later this month.
But the event will be restricted to UCL students and staff only, denying access to Jewish students from other universities, some of whom were present at the disrupted talk in October 2016.
A UCL spokesman said the university had “maintained from the start” that it would be a UCL-only event.
He added that it would not be appropriate to alter its plans since the investigation into the disturbance at Mr Mazzig’s talk two years criticised “late changes made” to arrangements for the event.
The university insisted that the invitation for Mr Mazzig to come back to speak on its campus displayed a commitment to free speech.
But students belonging to the SOAS Jewish Society and the Israel societies of King’s College London, and UCL itself have launched a petition calling on UCL to open the event to students of other universities.
More than 1,500 people had signed it by Wednesday afternoon.
Tamara Berens, the president of the King’s College London Israel Society, said: “We are shocked that an event that is meant to serve as a symbol for free speech and making amends with the Jewish community is not permitting the student victims of the attack on the event of 2016 to be a part of it.”
Ms Berens, who attended Mr Mazzig’s previous talk and whose society helped organise it, said: “UCL wants to show they are standing up for free speech, but preventing the attendance of the victims from 2016’s event… shows they are cowing to the anti-Israel demonstrators.”
Devora Khafi, a student at Queen Mary University of London who was hurt during the 2016 protest, said she thought it would have been “normal” for UCL to invite her and others who were caught up in it as an act of reparation.
Mr Mazzig’s 2016 talk was abandoned after demonstrators stormed the venue. Both speaker and attendees had to be led to safety under police escort, with eyewitnesses reporting that protestors were “shouting and banging on the windows”.
An investigation found “evidence that a smaller group of protestors intentionally disrupted the rights of others to exercise freedom of speech within the law, and that their behaviour caused stress and anxiety to students and staff at UCL”.
Mr Mazzig, whose will speak on the theme of “overcoming hate” when he returns to UCL on January 25, told the JC that he had hoped that the community of Jewish students of London universities would be able to “come together for this symbolic event”.
He added that he believed the invitation had taken on “a symbolic importance that this type of [protest] is not acceptable.
“I understand the anti-Israel groups. It is something I have experienced often, and my country is not perfect. I will be the first to say that.
“But like when we see terror, or threats, or attacks, it is important not to
be intimidated and it has only encouraged me to tell my story and show a different side to Israel that you see in the media.”
UCL president and provost, Professor Michael Arthur, who will chair the event, said: “Our invitation to Hen Mazzig is a demonstration of our commitment to freedom of speech.
“UCL is a university that believes in, and aims pro-actively to promote, racial and religious tolerance as well as freedom of speech for all within the law.”
In a speech last month Jo Johnson, then the universities minister, denounced “no platforming” and attempts to silence speakers on UK campuses.
Under proposals submitted by Mr Johnson universities could face a variety of penalties for failing to uphold free speech.
The UCL Friends of Palestine Society criticised the university’s invitation to Mr Mazzig, saying the IDF is “an army complicit in numerous war crimes”.
Mr Mazzig, an international speaker and LGBTQ activist, served in the IDF for almost five years. As a lieutenant he worked as an intermediary between the IDF, the Palestinian Authority, the UN, and non-governmental organisations.