The University of Nottingham upholds freedom of speech and our priority is ensuring that opportunities to engage in debate or protest are safe, inclusive, dignified, respectful and responsible. In all the University does, it values inclusivity, ambition, openness, fairness, and respect.
The University has been subject to a number of occupations in recent times. In each case, formal legal action was necessary to resolve the situation and to effectively address the impact of the action on others. Securing a possession order can be a lengthy process and in the event of an occupation, any legal procedural steps need to be taken as soon as possible.
We are concerned that not everyone involved in the Jubilee encampment is a member of staff or student, due to those taking part wearing masks to hide their identity. While we respect our students’ and colleagues’ right to protest, this limits our ability to keep our University community safe. As a result, those taking part have been required by the court to provide information to establish whether they are connected to the University.
The court process is ongoing, and a further hearing has been scheduled for the end of the week. Our priority continues to be the wellbeing of all our staff and students and to ensure the protest remains peaceful.
From the beginning of the protest, we have provided access to facilities nearby for those taking part. Our University Security Team has also been on site 24/7 to provide support to everyone in our community, including the protesters.
While respecting their right to protest, we have reminded those involved of our Code of Conduct and our Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech. We’ve asked that they are respectful of the needs of our wider community, particularly those who work and study on the site.
Last week we met with the elected Students’ Union Officers as the official representatives of the student body and agreed we would be open to talking further with them about the issues raised by the protesters.
We are all deeply distressed by the scale of human suffering we are seeing in Israel and Gaza and our thoughts continue to be with all those individuals caught up in the violence. Our first responsibility must be to members of our staff and student community who are affected by the conflict, to ensure that they have all the wellbeing and other support that they need and that we are able to provide.
Our Wellbeing Team, Chaplaincy, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for People and Culture and interim Director of HR continue to reach out to our staff and students through the Jewish and Islamic university groups to offer support and have been meeting regularly with them since the conflict began.
All our staff and students can access academic and wellbeing support.