Housing Secretary asks University of Bristol to ‘immediately detail’ how it will address concerns over Miller - The Jewish Chronicle

The government has written to the University of Bristol asking it to “immediately detail” how it intends to address the concerns of Jewish students after it was revealed that Professor David Miller — who notoriously labelled campus JSoc members “pawns” of a “racist foreign regime” — was due to teach two modules this coming year despite being under investigation.

A letter from Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick to the university’s chancellors said that “any inaction now risks the most serious damage to the reputation of your university”.

The revelation that the controversial academic was set to return to work prompted the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) to accuse the University of Bristol of assuming his “innocence” and “legitimising the targeted attacks he made towards Jewish students”.

Prof Miller was initially placed under investigation after Jewish students said they did not feel safe while he taught at the university.

But module information released for the coming academic year showed that he was due to teach two courses: ‘Understanding Terrorism’ and ‘Harms of the Powerful’.

UJS said the latter module had been “disavowed by the Jewish community for containing offensive material”.

Contacted by the JC, the ‘Support David Miller Campaign’ doubled down on previous inflammatory comments by the professor and accused the UJS and Bristol JSoc of existing to “whitewash Zionist colonisation of Palestine” and “manufacturing hysteria”.

In response, the UJS and Bristol JSoc said: “Statements like this are precisely the sort of thing that we are having to deal with and we really do expect the university to step up to protect Jewish students from this sort of continued attack and harassment.”

In his letter to the university’s bosses, Mr Jenrick wrote: “With reference to the specific case of Professor Miller, you will know the government considers his views to be ill-founded and reprehensible.”

Mr Jenrick said he was “pleased to hear that Bristol University has adopted the IHRA definition”, but added that “despite this, some young Jewish people….. have spoken out about feeling unsafe and unwelcome.. due to your organisation’s persistent failure to address their serious accusations”.

Leaked lecture slides from the course ‘Harms of the Powerful’ show Prof Miller classifying a range of British Jewish communal bodies - from the Board of Deputies to the CST - as tools of Israeli foreign policy and causes of Islamophobia.

Furious Bristol JSoc representatives wrote to the university’s School of Policy Studies to demand its director, Esther Dermot, “stand with and protect” Jewish students.

Prof Miller teaches sociology at the university and is a leading member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, a group widely criticised as as “apologists for Assad”.

He was suspended from Labour last year after claiming that Sir Keir Starmer had taken “Zionist” money.

Earlier this year he called for “the end” of Zionism and said Israel “is trying to exert its will all over the world”, leading to a hate crime investigation from Avon and Somerset police and denunciation by 550 academics.

In a statement, the University of Bristol emphasised its freedom of speech policy, defending the right of their staff: “to speak openly without fear of censorship or limitation, provided that this right is exercised responsibly, within the law, and with respect for others who may have differing views...

“We remain committed to providing a positive experience for all our students and staff, including by providing a welcoming environment for Jewish students, and fostering good relations and an inclusive community.”