Countdown’s Rachel Riley to speak at JSoc rally protesting Bristol Uni’s David Miller
David Miller has been accused of targeting Jewish students
1 month ago
Rachel Riley will be speaking at an online rally, organised by the Bristol Jewish Society (JSoc) and the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), in protest at sociology professor David Miller’s comments that targeted Jewish students at Bristol Uni.
The JSoc and UJS rally is taking place on Facebook Live and Twitter at 5pm today, and is aimed at pressuring Bristol Uni to take action against the professor, using the tagline and hashtag “Hate Off Campus”.
Bristol Uni was heavily criticised in a Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and Bristol Jewish Society (JSoc) online rally this evening, with campaigners saying that Bristol Uni’s “silence” on Professor David Miller has “legitimised” antisemitic abuse of Jewish students.
The speakers did not hold back on their calls for action from the university, with Rachel Riley commenting in her speech that their inaction “legitimised and empowered” the abuse and antisemitism directed at “young Jewish people at Bristol University”.
The live stream was watched live by over 1,000 people on Facebook and Twitter, with the vast majority flooding the comments with messages of allyship and solidarity.
Bristol SU has released a statement of support for the University of Bristol Jewish Society (JSoc) after a video of Professor David Miller, a sociology professor at the university, emerged which according to JSoc “criticised Jewish students and the Jewish society” for speaking out against anti-semitism.
In the video, the professor calls for the “end” of Zionism as a “functioning ideology of the world”, as well as saying: “It’s fundamental to Zionism to encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism”.
He also mentions he has been “complained about” by the presidents of JSoc and the UJS, which are, he says, “formally members of the Zionist movement”.
Bristol Uni has responded to the outrage over Professor David Miller’s widely condemned comments about Jewish students, saying in a statement: “We do not endorse the comments made by Professor Miller about our Jewish students.”
Following huge public backlash to comments made by David Miller, a sociology professor at Bristol Uni, and “a significant number of calls for Professor David Miller to be dismissed”, the university has defended itself, saying that it cannot unilaterally fire a member of staff, adding: “Any action which we might take as an employer is a private matter.”
They cite employment law as the reason the member of staff cannot be dismissed, but did not comment on any potential internal processes as a result of these recent comments.
Bristol Uni rejects student demands for safety net policy
Over 2,200 students have signed a petition
3 months ago
Bristol Uni has decided not to implement a safety net policy following the announcement of a third national lockdown.
In an email to all students sent very late in the day, the university wrote that they supported the Russell Group position, which is that a safety net is “unnecessary”. Bristol University management say they are “confident” in their existing measures. but will be consulting with student groups about possible further measures.
However, any further measures will only be implemented after the assessment period: “We expect to update you on the work of the task force and on any substantive outcomes after the January assessment period, so please bear with us in the meantime.”