Students call for professor accused of anti-Semitic attacks to be sacked
Bristol University is under pressure to fire a professor who promoted pro-Iranian and pro-Assad regime propaganda on the internet.
Students at the English university called for the dismissal of Prof David Miller, who has claimed a campaign of censorship against him led by Jewish students working with the government of Israel.
Two MPs, Andrew Percy and Catherine McKinnell, wrote to the university’s head Hugh Brady to call for the sociology professor’s removal.
“No lecturer should be making students feel unsafe or unwelcome on campus,” Mr Percy said.
“The fact that he won’t apologise is truly shocking and shameful. These kind of comments encourage anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish students.”
The university said there had been “a significant number of calls” for the professor’s dismissal.
However, it said no decision had been taken.
“UK law requires that we, like all employers, act in accordance with our internal procedures and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service code of conduct,” a statement said. “Any action which we might take as an employer is a private matter.”
Prof Miller decried the criticism as “age-old Israeli lobby tactics imported from the US”.
Communities Minister Robert Jenrick last year wrote to all universities to warn against providing a haven for conspiracy theories after Mr Miller, who has featured on Iranian TV, said “parts of the Zionist movement were funding Islamophobia”.