Over 50 academics sign letter condemning student conviction

We, the undersigned, condemn the decision by the University of Cambridge to suspend a student from the university for two and half years for his part in a peaceful protest against the government’s higher education policy.

Universities should be a place of critical thinking and open debate. Academics and students must be free to share ideas and think seriously about the world in which we live. The suspension of this student sets a dangerous precedent, which threatens to stifle debate within our academic institutions.

We believe, irrespective of individual opinions on the action itself, that this exemplary sentence undermines the University’s professed commitment to freedom of speech and the right to protest.

We call for the suspended student to be reinstated with immediate effect.

Prof Terry Eagleton, Honorary fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge
Prof Stephen Wagg, Leeds Metropolitan University
Prof Phil Husbands, University of Sussex
Prof Alberto Toscano, Goldsmiths, University of London
Prof Vikki Bell, Goldsmiths University
Dr Francesco Messineo, Lecturer in Law, Kent Law School
Mairead Enright, Lecturer, Kent Law School
Kasim N Sheikh, Lecturer in International Law, SOAS
Dr Anneli Albi, Senior Lecturer in EU Law, Law School, University of Kent
Catherine Carpenter, Senior Lecturer, University of Kent
Alan Story, Reader in Intellectual Property Law, Kent Law School
Steven Rose, Emeritus Professor of Biology (neuroscience), Department of Life Sciences, The Open University
Dr Gail Day, University of Leeds
Prof Steve Edwards, Open University
Joe Deville, Postdoctoral researcher, Goldsmiths, University of London
Dr Timo Jütten, Lecturer in Philosophy, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex
Dr. David McNeill, Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex
Dr. Amal Treacher, Associate Professor, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham
Britt Hatzius, Goldsmiths University London
Dr Emma Jackson, King’s College London
Dr. Michael Guggenheim, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Arturo Sanchez Garcia, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Kent Law School, University of Kent
Dr Peter D. Thomas, Lecturer in the History of Political Thought, Brunel University
Dr Graham Dyer, SOAS Professor Sally Sheldon, Kent Law School, Eliot College, Kent University
Mary Jacobus, FBA, Ex-Director, CRASSH, and Grace II Professor of English Emerita, University of Cambridge; M.H.Abrams Distinguished Visiting Professor, Cornell University
Kirsten Campbell, Goldsmiths
Susan Bewley  MA MD FRCOG, Professor of Complex Obstetrics, KCL, Honorary Clinical Director Obstetrics, NHS London
Donald McGillivray, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Kent
Dr Donatella Alessandrini, Senior Lecturer in Law, Kent Law School Eliot College, University of Kent
Dr Miriam Muller, Lecturer in Medieval History, School of History and Cultures, Dept. of History, University of Birmingham
Craig Lind, Senior Lecturer in Law, Sussex Law School, University of Sussex
Professor Jane K. Cowan, University of Sussex
Professor Joyce Canaan, Birmingham City University.
Dr. Shalini Grover, Senior Research Fellow in Social Anthropology/Sociology, Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), University of Delhi
Professor Clair Wills, Dept of English, QMUL
Dr Nadia Valman, Dept of English, QMUL Jacqueline Rose, Professor of English, Queen Mary University of London, FBA
Dr Andrew van der Vlies, Dept of English, QMUL
Dr Rachel Gilmour, Dept of English, QMUL
Dr Andrea Brady, Senior Lecturer, English, Queen Mary University of London
Professor Amanda French, Senior Lecturer Education and Early Years, School of Education, Wolverhampton University
Dr Cora Kaplan, Visiting professor in the School of English and Drama
at Queen Mary, University of London; Emerita professor of English at the University of Southampton
Prof. Sir Alec Jeffreys, Department of Genetics, University of Leicester
Dr. Romain Guilbaud, Newcastle University
Dr Paul Hubert, Student Advisor, Kent Law School, University of Kent
Dr Margherita Laera, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Drama Department, Queen Mary, University of London
Dr. David M. Seymour, School of Law, Lancaster University
Dr. Geoffrey Abbott (Newcastle University)
Dr John Parrington, Lecturer in Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Mansfield Road, University of Oxford
Dr Fiona de Londras, School of Law, University College Dublin
Dr Mark Leopold, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Sussex
Dr Dinah Rajak, Lecturer in Anthropology and DevelopmentSchool of Global Studies University of Sussex
Professor Peter Dews, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex
Dr. Pamela Kea, Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex
Gary Hazeldine, Birmingham City University
Dr Fiona Donson, Faculty of Law, UCC, Cork
Professor Valerie Fraser, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex
Dr William McEvoy, School of English, University of Sussex