60 scientific staff members: Stop calling the police on our students

The names of all signees appear at the bottom of the post.

Dear university leadership

We, as employees, teachers and researchers at UCPH address you as our university leadership, who are responsible for the working, teaching and study environment at Southern Campus.

We are deeply concerned about the civil rights and the safety of staff and students after armed police were called to dissolve the creative and non-violent student manifestation at the Southern Campus on the 3rd of December. Students affiliated with Students against the Occupation were forcefully dragged out from the building and had – according to themselves – their computers confiscated and their university cards blocked.

READ ALSO: No more tent camps and sock protests: Students against the Occupation evicted by the police

Many of them are currently facing the risk of suspension, even though most of them were just sitting there studying amid the protest.

On the Right Side of History

It is well known from the study of social movements that studies and protests are inherently related in the late modern history of Western academic education.

The UCPH
has a long and impressive
history of
student
protests

As in the case of the encampment in May and June at the City Campus, the students were protesting peacefully against the academic collaborations between UCPH and Israeli institutions. That is in direct continuation of the call for boycott of South African universities in the 1960’s and 1980’s. As many academics and students across the globe are doing today, the students at UCPH are calling for an academic boycott of Israeli universities, due to their proven complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The students have been gathering weekly in the university hall throughout fall, while intensifying the encampment on the 26th of November. When they were forcefully evicted from campus on the 3rd of December, they had been there for a couple of days and some of us had been visiting them, having lunch with them and been listening to the readings of poetry they arranged.

Most of the time, the students were working on their exams while disseminating information about the call for academic boycott. All in all, activities that are in no way against the practice that students or staff are supposed to undertake at a university campus.

Instead of calling the police and evicting the peaceful student gathering, the leadership of the university should acknowledge and appreciate the formal and informal meetings organized by students as a constructive way of engaging with matters of concern.

Socks and a touch of humor

The students’ occupation of the hall was carried out peacefully, in socks – a humorous nod to the rector’s speech at the annual celebration, in which he distinguished between considerate and illegitimate student protests.

READ ALSO: Rector’s speech at the annual celebration: Student activism must pass the ‘sock test’ (in Danish)

What was not peaceful was the way in which the students’ activities were met with a forceful silencing of public and academic conversation regarding one of the most pressing international conflicts – a conflict many of our students and colleagues are deeply affected by. What the Students against the Occupation are doing is raising their voice with this commonly shared concern.

The students’ position is in no way a radical one

Furthermore, the students’ position is in no way a radical one. Internationally recognized institutions such as ICC and Amnesty International have backed the South African case of an ongoing genocide in Gaza and the unlawful and horrendous Israeli destruction of Occupied Palestine. Israel is directly violating international laws recognized and upheld by the Danish government.

The presence of police inside the buildings on campus is an escalation that heightens the risk of panic and irrational reactions on the part of the students. The manner in which the protest was dissolved demonstrates a lack of understanding of the basic rights to voice disagreement with institutions of power in a democratic society.

We find the increasing threat to the fundamental right to freedom of speech and to demonstrate, particularly when dissent is directed at the politics of the government and the rectorate, deeply problematic.

Guarantee it will not happen again

We are deeply troubled by the attack on the university’s traditions and its role as a space for critical analysis, reflection and discussion. The UCPH has a long and impressive history of student protests. Only a few years ago, the occupation of the office of then dean of Humanities, Jesper Kallestrup, went on for several weeks without involving armed police.

READ ALSO: Two years was enough. Dean quits Faculty of Humanities. Management team up for replacement

We say no to the measures taken against the students and want guarantees that it will never happen again. We urge you, as responsible leaders, to strive in every possible way to avoid unnecessary escalation of peaceful protests, regardless of the topics addressed and the demands expressed by the students.

Your role is to mediate and
de-escalate

No matter who issues the order for the removal, you should defend the staff and students at your campus. Your role is to mediate and de-escalate the conflict and to prevent such scenes where students are dragged forcefully out of the building of their own educational institution.

When the safety and security of both staff and students is threatened it has a direct consequence on our work environment and the conditions for both teaching and doing research.

With concerned regards
Academic staff at the University of Copenhagen

Signees:

Terne Thorsen Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Karen Arnfred, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Frida Sandström, PhD Student, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Eva la Cour, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Thibault Capelle, Research Assistant, Niels Bohr Institute
Fernando Racimo, Associate Professor, Globe Institute
Amila Cirkinagic, Academic Officer, Cultmind
Mikkel Bolt, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Qwin Werle, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Andy Lautrup, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Georgios Pappas, PhD Fellow, Center of Protein Research
Ida Bencke, PhD Student, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Anne Ring Petersen, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Bue Rübner Hansen, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Devika Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Amalie Skovmøller, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Svala Vagnsdatter, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Kassandra Wellendorf, Teaching Associated Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Anders Bach Pedersen, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Nina Cramer, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Sarah Samira El-Taki, Visiting Teacher, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Line Ellegaard, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Salvatore Paolo De Rosa, Postdoc, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
Tue Andersen, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Tore Tvarnø, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Sabine Dahl Nielsen, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
François Questiaux, Postdoc, Department of Food and Resource Economics
Anne Julie Arnfred, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Kerry Greaves, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Laura Luise Schultz, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Anne Kølbæk Iversen, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Mikkel Frantzen, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Mathias Overgaard, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Thea Møller Jensen, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Brenda Amaru Ibarra, PhD Student, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Mons Bissenbakker, Associate Professor, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics
Kasper Opstrup, Teaching Assistant Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Mathias Danbolt, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Birgitte Thorsen Vilslev, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Sofus Landbo, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Christian Schönbeck, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy
Bror Axel Dehn, PhD Fellow, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Tania Ørum, Assistant Professor Emerita, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Line Dahler-Eriksen, Research Assistant, Department of Communication 
Jan Thorhauge, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication 
Katrine Dorthea Bjerre, PhD Student, Department of Communication 
Frederik Appel Olsen, External Lecturer, Department of Communication
Emil Elg, PhD Student, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Kathrine Bolt Rasmussen, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Lamia Moghnieh, Associate Professor, Center for Culture and the Mind
Hanna Grønneberg, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
Astrid Møller-Olsen, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Vasiliki Angelopoulou, Postdoc, Niels Bohr Institute
Konrad Krcal, Postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Stine Grønbæk Jensen, Teaching Assistant Professor, Department of Communication 
Frida Broberg, PhD Student, Department of Communication 
Agus Djaja Soewarta, Teaching Assistant Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Mikkel Bogh, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Malene Vest Hansen, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Martin Glaz Serup, External Lecturer, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
Solveig Gade, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies