UCPH staff in support of protest camp: »I don't want my salary to come from war crimes«

For more than two weeks, students have been demonstrating via a protest camp on the central CSS campus at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). Everyone has been welcomed – students, staff, and anyone else who wants to participate.

Now a large number of academics and staff from the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies have sent a letter of support to the students who are currently demonstrating against UCPH management.

»As researchers, faculty and staff at the University of Copenhagen and other universities, we would like to express our support for the students who have set up a tent camp on City Campus,« the employees write in the letter, adding that they back all the students’ demands.

In the letter, the employees elaborate and say that the students’ demands are »completely reasonable and are in alignment with the University of Copenhagen vision of broadening peoples’ horizons and moving the world forward through critical thinking and intellectual creativity.«

At the time of writing, the petition of support has more than 360 signatures from staff and instructors from both UCPH and other Danish and Nordic universities.

As it is now, my salary is partly paid by the money that UCPH invests in illegal Israeli settlements. I have an opinion on this

Eva la Cour, postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

The first three names on the list are Professor Mikkel Bolt, postdoc Eva la Cour and PhD student Frida Sandström. All three are employed at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies.

The University Post met them at the protest camp to talk about their support for students, and about what position they, as an employee, have if they wish to speak out critically of the senior management team.

The employees emphasize that everyone has a different answer to this question: What can you, dare you, and should you, do in terms of expressing direct criticism of management, for example in the form of a petition for a student action.

»There is no one answer to this question. Because it is both about your personal situation, and your type of employment. For my own part, I can say that when someone takes a local initiative like this, it is important for me to assess what my position is,« says Eva la Cour.

»In this case I see myself as a kind of intermediary between the students and the institution they are demonstrating against. I am employed by the institution, I get my salary from it. As it is now, my salary is partly paid by the money that UCPH invests in illegal Israeli settlements. I have an opinion on this.«

Demonstration as a learning space

As a university employee, it is neither »controversial nor radical« to be critical of your management, according to Frida Sandström.

»It is not controversial to say: ‘I don’t want my salary to come from war crimes’,« she says.

But can it not expose an individual employee to risk when his or her name is on a petition that directly criticizes management?

»I would rather answer in a different way,« says Frida Sandström and continues:

The assumption is wrong when you say that a learning space is not already political. Because it is

Mikkel Bolt, professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

»You cannot compare what the students learn here to what they would learn in an auditorium. They organize themselves. They collaborate across disciplines, take initiatives, and organize seminars. They study and learn. It is a gift to the university, and a self-organized learning space in the best sense. It’s almost like a model of how a university would look if grades weren’t important. And my task as a teacher and researcher is, of course, to support this.«

Much of the literature that students read as part of the curriculum today is created through various social movements like the one the students themselves are part of right now, she points out.

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»This does not contradict the university, or research and knowledge production. As a researcher with an interest in how critical thinking takes place and changes under the influence of societal crises, it is my responsibility to try to understand it and try to conduct a critical historical analysis of the phenomenon,« says Frida Sandström.

An inclusive space?

You call the protest camp and the demonstration a learning space. But should a learning space be political?

»It is a false assumption when you say that a learning space is not already political. Because it is,« says Mikkel Bolt. He continues:

»This doesn’t mean that there isn’t also a vision for producing knowledge for the sake of knowledge, which we all try to live up to. But there’s no simple way to separate science and politics. The university is part of society, and it has to listen to it while at the same time trying to influence it.«

I would say that the tent camp is a more inclusive space than most other spaces we have institutionalised at the university

Frida Sandström, PhD student, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

He points out that many of the concepts used in different scientific traditions, from the idea of the free market in economics to the idea of the work of art in art history, in different ways »construct the world in a certain way,« which is why science already operates with a political interpretation of the world.

»There are no easy answers. But it is important to insist that any interesting humanities, sociological, or legal research today will somehow always try to move out there and bring the world into the classroom,« says Mikkel Bolt.

Is it your impression that this is a learning space that can include everyone?

»We live in a political, democratic society, so this question is just as big here as in the rest of Denmark or Europe. But I would say that the tent camp is a more inclusive space than most other spaces we have institutionalised at the university,« says Frida Sandström and adds:

»No-one, for example, checks your passport like they do on the train between Denmark and Sweden. Everyone is welcome at the tent camp, no matter who they are.«

»I actually wonder why you are asking this,« says Eva la Cour.

One of the reasons I am asking is because a Jewish student wrote on the social media X, that he had witnessed a demonstration at CSS where people had shouted ‘Globalize the Intifada’, and that he had felt unsafe.

It is important to insist that it is not anti-semitism to be critical of the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza

Mikkel Bolt, professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

»I think politicization can seep in, and make a space feel unsafe. There will always be specific examples where you feel intimidated or unsure about whether you can go into it. I try not to be blind to the fact that there may be people who feel insecure. But to ask the question as if it by definition is not an inclusive space, I think that is problematic,« says Eva la Cour. Mikkel Bolt adds:

»It’s an accusation that there are cases of anti-Semitism out here. Anti-Semitism exists in Danish society – just like Islamophobia or other forms of racism. This is a fact. And it cannot be ruled out, that it can be found among Students Against the Occupation to an extent that reflects Danish society. But I actually think that there is significantly less antisemitism here than what you find out on the street,« he says, adding:

»It is important to insist that it is not anti-Semitism to be critical of the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza.«

A signal in the signature?

The question of whether a pro-Palestinian demonstration is inclusive or not can make an employee vulnerable in terms of putting their name on a petition, according to Eva la Cour.

»Internally, I’m not really that afraid of the consequences. But externally, I can wonder if signing a petition like this can send a signal, because of the discourse that is going on. But because it is suddenly ‘dangerous’ to sign that you do not support genocide, it becomes even more important to do so,« she says and adds:

»I feel emotional and saddened by the fact that this is an issue at all. And I can understand those who might, say, have a scholarship in Germany, and don’t want to sign a petition like this.«

But externally, I have to wonder if signing a petition like this can send a signal, because of the discourse that is going on.

Eva la Cour, postdoc, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

You’re not afraid of your boss calling you in, and asking why you’ve signed this petition?

»If my boss did that, I would say I’m doing what is in my contract. And doing what is my right as a citizen – namely to contribute to the democratic conversation,« says Frida Sandström. Mikkel Bolt adds:

»I actually have the feeling that my head of department and dean back me on this. This is within the framework of academic freedom. I think the problem is more in the criticism that has been levelled in recent years against named researchers and against certain research areas or methods,« he says, pointing to the aspersions cast against migration research, postcolonial theory and critical race theory.

»It is a political de-legitimization of completely legitimate research methods. And this means that, particularly, younger researchers will consider carefully how to profile and communicate their research.«

Dialogue with students

The three employees have visited the camp several times to talk to the students. They haven’t slept in tents there, however, and they don’t think other employees have either.

»I think there are many employees who are upset about the situation in Gaza and want to participate in the critical conversation that is taking place in the camp. A meeting was held with about 50 employees who discussed whether, and how, they could back the students’ demands,« says Frida Sandström and continues:

This is within the framework of academic freedom

Mikkel Bolt, professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

»Some staff have planned to hold teach-ins, where they will talk about student protests historically, the definition of genocide, and the history of Palestine. It is their workplace, after all. They are doing their job by participating in the critical and democratic conversation at their university.«

While we are conducting the interview, a student comes over to ask the employees if they know a UCPH researcher who »would be willing to say that they have censored themselves to not write publicly about Palestine.«

None of the three researchers interviewed had done so themselves. But according to them, there is no doubt that some researchers do.

How much do you work with Students Against the Occupation?

»We support their demands to the university. As researchers, we distance ourselves from the ongoing genocide and say no to occupation and apartheid. In this way, we participate in a critical scientific exchange,« says Frida Sandström. Mikkel Bolt adds:

»Just like UCPH management, we are in dialogue with the students.«