Bah.
"De Radboud Universiteit wil inhoudelijk niet ingaan op vragen van Vox over het vertrek. In een algemeen statement schrijft een woordvoerder het volgende. “Na een intensief traject van maanden hebben de heer Pettit en de Radboud universiteit afgesproken uit elkaar te gaan. De Radboud universiteit is van mening dat hij uitingen heeft gedaan die niet in lijn zijn met de gedragscode van de universiteit. De heer Pettit ziet dat anders.”
https://www.voxweb.nl/nieuws/sociaal-geograaf-harry-pettit-verlaat-de-radboud-universiteit-er-is-gedreigd-met-ontslag #HarryPettit #RadboudUniversity
![Screenshot van verklaring Harry Pettit op twitter:
"I would like to announce that I have come to a settlement to leave Radboud, and will take up a new position at another university.
For the last 10 months, Radboud has monitored my private X account and pressured me to alter my statements regarding the ongoing genocide on Palestinians. I have been called into meetings, asked to defend myself in written statements, received a warning, told to delete posts, and threatened with dismissal. Various posts have been flagged: these include ‘swearing in public’ (after | posted ‘fuck ‘israel”), calling politicians who support the Gaza holocaust ‘rabid genocidaires’, saying ‘israel’ should not exist as a state, comparing Zionism and Nazism, inciting protest against Zionist speakers on campus, and expressing satisfaction at the death of IDF soldiers terrorizing Palestinians in Gaza. I have also been told that academics must condemn
all violence, and even distance themselves from those who experience positive
emotions about it.
The university argued that my posts violate the code of conduct. However, I
disagreed. Despite my repeated requests, it never implemented a proper process to assess this. Instead, it used vague terms like ‘being a good role model), ‘embarrassing the university’, ‘shutting down debate’, or ‘inciting (emotions around) hate and violence’, without any proof or elaboration. I have always received overwhelmingly positive student evaluations in my teaching [...]
(1/2)](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/525/257/214/428/585/original/f996e417e464aab6.png)
![screenshot van verklaring van Harry Pettit op twitter, vevolg:
"It is self-evident that the university’s actions infringe upon my right as an academic, and as an individual, to free speech. It is especially absurd that, as Palestinians are being murdered every single day, a university decides to focus on repressing speech against it, and it once again showcases the Palestine exception when it comes to speech. It is both our legal right, and moral duty, to call for the Zionist project to come to its end, and support Palestinian armed resistance against it.
Following the news that I secured an ERC Starting Grant in the summer, I began
looking for opportunities to move to a more supportive environment, which
facilitates its academics to speak out against Zionism, and which provides a
stimulating place to carry out my project. I secured an offer, which I am very excited to take up next year. After Radboud recently gave me an ultimatum to either change my expressions or face dismissal, I decided to negotiate a settlement to leave, and donate the money to causes that further Palestinian liberation.
We cannot normalize the growing repression of Palestine solidarity. For the last two years, universities across the West have used informal intimidation and punitive sanctions, alongside police violence, to instill fear among academics and students.
The Zionist lobby also has a long history of destroying people who dare stand up to the settler colonial project. [...]](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/525/258/042/673/175/original/6c1b3cf3df648460.png)
