29 July 2024

In a remarkable display of unity and firmness, no fewer than 21 Fellows of the British Academy have written to Leeds University management to end their victimisation of Professor James Dickins, resulting from an evidence-free attack on the Professor by pro-Israel students and others.

Professor Hai-Sui Yu Interim Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds By email,

Professor Andrew Thorpe Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Leeds By email, A.J.Thorpe@leeds.ac.uk

Professor Emma Cayley Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds By email, E.Cayley@leeds.ac.uk

23 July 2024

Dear Professors Yu, Thorpe, and Cayley

We are writing to you as Fellows of the British Academy, having heard with great dismay of the recommendation that Professor James Dickins be stripped of his emeritus title at the University of Leeds. Professor Dickins’s ‘crime’, it appears, is being critical of the State of Israel, for we have seen no other evidence whatsoever of wrongdoing on his part.

Having reviewed the specifics of the accusations and the claimed evidence for them, it is clear to us that there is no substance to the allegations. In two vague paragraphs, which also include a date error, Professor Dickins is accused of having ‘leaked’ the address of the Hillel House for the purpose of encouraging protest that endangered the residents, and which resulted, putatively, in vandalizing graffiti on the Hillel House. In actuality, the address of the Hillel House is nowhere in the WhatsApp messages Professor Dickins exchanged with others – but is in the public domain for all to obtain. He did not encourage any protest connected with the Hillel House, and in fact, no such protest ever took place. While the Hillel House was daubed with graffiti on 8/02/2024, there is no evidence that connects the graffiti with Professor Dickins or any of his social media messages sent six days earlier. The proceedings against Professor Dickins are based on the complaint of a single student and have neither merit nor factual base. We conclude that his messages did not create any threat to the safety of Jewish people on the Leeds campus. They were a political expression of his views endorsing anti-Zionism, not antisemitism.

With your move to strip Professor Dickins of his emeritus status, not only is due process being violated, but so are the University’s duties to protect and foster both free speech and academic freedom. These are enshrined in Article 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 and section 202 of the Education Reform Act 1988, as well as the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

To us, it appears that Professor Dickins is being punished for his long-term commitment to Palestinian rights, a commitment for which, in our opinion, he should be honoured, not penalized. We urge you to stop these proceedings at once, to honour Professor Dickins’s rights and to allow him to continue his rightful and valuable involvement with the Leeds academic community.

Yours sincerely,

David Adger FBA

Hagit Borer FBA

Robyn Carston FBA

Nicholas Chater FBA

Dawn Chatty FBA

Jenny Cheshire FBA

Greville Corbett FBA

David Denison FBA

Conor Gearty FBA

George Hewitt FBA

Caroline Heycock FBA

Clive Holes FBA

Anders Holmberg FBA

Richard Hudson FBA

Paul Kerswill FBA

Geoffrey Khan FBA

Aditi Lahiri FBA

Michael MacDonald FBA

Nicholas Sims-Williams FBA

Ianthi Tsimpli FBA

Janet Watson FBA