Oxford University head of equality faces calls to quit after backing pro-Palestinian protest camp
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Oxford dons have called for the university’s head of equality to resign after he signed an open letter in support of a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the university.
Vernal Scott, who has led Oxford’s equality and diversity unit since October 2023, has put his name to a letter declaring solidarity with students protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The demonstrators set up tents on the lawn of the university’s Pitt Rivers Museum on Monday and have said they will not leave until the university meets their demands, which include cutting financial ties with companies linked to Israel, and calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Mr Scott last month celebrated the closure of the National Conservatism Conference by police in Brussels, which prompted accusations of double standards from Oxford dons.
Now the university has been drawn into fresh controversy after Mr Scott, who was previously head of diversity and inclusion at Essex Police, pledged his support for the pro-Palestinian protesters.
Nigel Biggar, the regius professor emeritus of moral theology at Oxford, told The Telegraph that Mr Scott “should bite his tongue and remain silent … or else resign from his post”.
“‘Mr Scott has a legal right, of course, to express his political opinions. However, as a senior administrative official in Oxford University, he should bite his tongue and stay silent,” said Prof Biggar.
“Otherwise, students over whom he has power and who dissent from his views will have good reason to fear hostile discrimination from him.
“He needs to demonstrate even-handedness towards a diversity of political positions or else resign from his post.”
Prof Lawrence Goldman, an emeritus fellow at St Peter’s College, added that Mr Scott’s actions undermine Oxford’s claim to be an open and tolerant institution.
“Last week, Vernal Scott, Oxford’s head of diversity and inclusion (sic) openly advocated the closure of a Conservative political conference,” he said.
“This week he openly supports protests that compromise the safety of Jewish students and others at Oxford. He doesn’t understand his job description.
“How the university deals with him will be a matter of great interest to many of its alumni and its Jewish donors.”
Last month, Belgian police arrived at a conference at which Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman were speaking, to shut it down after a court ruled the event could be homophobic, incite public disorder or offend minorities.
“I applaud the mayor and police of Brussels for their decision to close down this conference,” Mr Scott wrote in a since-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter.
Hundreds of faculty and staff signed letter
So far, 303 members of Oxford’s faculty and staff have signed the statement in support of the encampment.
It describes the camp as “a public-facing global education project” and calls for the university to “divest from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as from Israel’s ongoing apartheid regime against Palestinians”.
Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union said: “I cannot see how signing this letter is compatible with championing ‘inclusion’, given that the concept is supposed to apply to all religious, ethnic and sexual minorities at Oxford, including Jews and Israelis.”
The university has been approached for comment.
