London university apologises to lecturer wrongly accused of antisemitism

The University of London recently issued a public apology and paid a settlement to a lecturer after an investigation into antisemitism allegations against him concluded that he was innocent, but the suspension during the investigation caused him "distress." The lecturer, Ray Campbell, had been suspended following complaints about comments he made on social media, and the university has since acknowledged the impact of its actions.

In August 2023, Goldsmiths, University of London, launched an investigation into Ray Campbell after receiving a complaint from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), accusing him of posting antisemitic content targeting Jewish figures on social media and comparing Israel to the Nazis. These accusations were primarily based on posts collected by a pro-Israel monitoring organization called GnasherJew, which scrutinizes online content for perceived anti-Israel bias.

During the investigation, Goldsmiths suspended Campbell for five months, barring him from campus and restricting his access to email, significantly disrupting his personal and professional life, according to Campbell. The posts under investigation included a reference to reports about Ethiopian women in Israel being injected with contraceptive drugs without their consent, as well as a comment on a tweet by journalist Robert Peston about the UK's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

Campbell stated that he was "appalled" that Goldsmiths accepted allegations from a "questionable" source. He suggested that Goldsmiths' insistence on pursuing disciplinary procedures may have been to present a "trophy" to an independent investigation team, justifying their expenditure on the investigation. Campbell's case has also sparked discussions about academic freedom and whether universities should be subject to external pressure to suppress criticism of Israel, raising important questions about the balance between free speech and institutional responsibility.

Tasnim Uddin, an advocacy and communications officer at the European Legal Support Center, stated that Campbell's case exposes a "disturbing trend of institutions using disciplinary procedures to target anti-Zionist voices," and called the outcome a victory for academic freedom. She emphasized the need for universities to uphold their commitment to freedom of expression and resist undue influence from Zionist lobby groups that attempt to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, protecting critical discourse within academic environments.