Radboud University has indicated its willingness to go to court to force the dismissal of its most controversial university lecturer, the British Harry Pettit. This is evident from communications about the run-up to his voluntary departure, in which: NRC had access. Last Monday, Pettit announced that he had agreed to a severance package.
After persistent statements that the university considered contrary to the rules of conduct, Dean Saskia Lavrijssen of the Faculty of Management Sciences informed Pettit on October 10 that she does not prefer legal proceedings. The option has been discussed with him. Two other options were for him to moderate his tone or accept a severance package. A proposed process with a mediator had previously come to nothing.
Pettit stated in a response to Lavrijssen that he would not avoid a lawsuit because he “is committed to emphasizing that what happens to me is not normalized.” But he also preferred a voluntary departure with an arrangement. To the extent that money is involved – the parties do not comment on details – he says he will donate it to the Palestinian cause.
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Complaint against Pettit
The British researcher and lecturer in human geography is known for his far-reaching statements about the violence in Israel and Gaza. He consistently speaks of a “holocaust” on Gazans by Israel. He called the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and took 250 people hostage, “legitimized armed resistance,” in which Israeli civilians were victims “of their own trigger-happy soldiers.” He stilt Zionism and Nazism alike. He also shouted recently op “finish what the Palestinians started on October 7.” When asked, he points to the peaceful actions that he also calls for in that tweet, such as boycotts.
On the day of that last tweet, October 10, he has a conversation with Dean Lavrijssen. He tells him that his statements are not in line with the university’s code of conduct. These statements have long been a problem for the Executive Board and the Faculty of Management Sciences, Pettit’s employer.
Pettit denies that he violates the code of conduct and describes in his public statement that a campaign is underway against him to which the university has succumbed
It appears that a complaint has been successfully filed against him, which has been translated by the board into a warning for the teacher. Those involved state that this complaint is related to an expression on X. Pettit reports that his appeal against the complaint was unsuccessful in October. NRC knows the gist, but has decided not to write about it in a traceable way for privacy reasons. Radboud University does not answer the question of whether the justified complaint played a role in Pettit’s departure. “Complaints procedures are confidential.”
Pettit denies that he violates the code of conduct and describes in his public statement that a campaign is underway against him, to which the university has succumbed. Pettit himself had been looking for a “more supportive” employer since the summer, he says. He does not want to say where his academic future lies.
In the background, Pettit won a European grant worth 1.5 million euros last summer. This is intended for his research into the infrastructure of a society in the return or disappearance of cash, in Accra (Ghana), Beirut (Lebanon) and Amsterdam. He takes his purse with him. This means he is bound to the EU and a number of the European Research Council (ERC). affiliated countries out there.
Report against minister
The issue escalated when the new outgoing minister Gouke Moes (Education, BBB) recently took issue with Pettit’s position at a Dutch university. On October 10, on the WNL talk show Café Kockelmann, he called a complaint against Pettit by the university board “a logical consequence of agreements” that his ministry has with universities about, among other things, combating calls for violence. In doing so, he went further than his predecessor Eppo Bruins (NSC). After parliamentary questions from the PVV last summer, he called the statements “abject”, but he did not encourage Radboud University to report the matter.
Several of Pettit’s fellow teachers have now expressed their concerns about what they see as a violation of academic freedom
Pettit in turn filed a report against Minister Moes, because his call would be an official misconduct. A minister can only be prosecuted if a majority in the House of Representatives or the cabinet itself urges the attorney general to do so.
In his public statement, Pettit also criticizes the role of the “so-called” National Coordinator for Combating Anti-Semitism (NCAB) Eddo Verdoner. Verdoner said through a spokesperson that he wrote a letter to the Radboud board at the beginning of October with the message that a line had been crossed. The reason was one message on X in which Pettit described the deadly attack on British Jews at a synagogue in Manchester as a consequence of Israel’s aggression with the support of Western allies. “This backlash is inevitable. It is their fault.” The NCAB assumes that ‘their’ refers to Jews. Pettit calls this “another example of my words being deliberately twisted.”
In a response, a spokesperson for Radboud University states that the minister and other ‘external actors’ “had no influence” on the “intensive process of many months” with Pettit.
The action group Nijmegen Student Encampment will hold a protest march on campus tomorrow against the Executive Board, with Pettit’s “working outside” as the reason. Have several fellow teachers, including in the independent university publication Voxexpressed their concerns about what they see as a violation of academic freedom.
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