Diane Abbott, former Shadow Home Secretary, has written a statement of support to the University of Oxford for one of her constituents, who is currently involved in a disciplinary process following their participation in the occupation of Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey’s office on 23rd May 2024.
In the letter, exclusively viewed by Cherwell, Abbott said: “As a parliamentarian committed to the principles of justice, civil liberties, and the right to peaceful protest, I believe that submitting… students to formal sanctions for their involvement risks undermining the core values of freedom of expression and academic freedom that universities ought to uphold.”
Abbott cited that the protest was “non-violent” and that the police “declined to pursue criminal charges”, arguing that these facts should be weighed before taking disciplinary measures that could “have long-lasting consequences on a young person’s future”.
She went on to say that “it is neither fair nor reasonable for a university to treat principled protest on urgent moral and humanitarian issues as misconduct warranting punitive measures. To do so risks chilling the very civic engagement and moral leadership that we should be encouraging in the next generation.”
Cherwell understands that the final hearings of the disciplinary proceedings will take place between the 10th and 16th of this month. Previously, students involved with these proceedings have told Cherwell that: “Continuing to have this weight hanging over [them] without a sort of acknowledgement of how it could affect [their] studies, [their] life, [their] health… is not proper conduct from them.”
This comes after an open letter in response to former Hertford College Principal Tom Fletcher’s speech at the United Nations. The letter urged Fletcher to “call on Irene Tracey… to consider how future generations might judge her decision to prosecute students acting on their moral indignation about events in Gaza and to terminate the University’s proceedings against them.”
A letter calling for the University to drop the case against the Wellington Square student protestors has also surfaced and has been reposted by Oxford Against Genocide (OAG) on Instagram. It currently has 209 signatories, including Oxford students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as members of the local community and other academics.
The University was approached for comment but did not respond.
