Michelle Pace, a Maltese professor loses her job at Roskilde University over her positions on Gaza

Michelle Pace, a Maltese professor specialising in EU - Middle East relations, migration and democracy, was dismissed in December 2025 by Roskilde University (RUC), a Danish public university near Copenhagen where she had taught for twelve years. She went public in October 2026, following an investigation by the Danish daily Politiken published on 4 October. She says she was forced out because of her public positions on the war in Gaza, which she describes as a genocide, and on Danish migration policy, the subject of her book Unwelcome to Denmark, published the same month she was dismissed. She says she was informed by email, without prior warning, and given a hearing the next day. She points out that she was named teacher of the year two years running.

The university rejects any political motive. It cites prolonged cooperation problems and "unacceptable behaviour" towards colleagues, including flooding them with emails about Gaza. RUC's deputy HR director, Miriam Skjalm Lissner, said these issues could not be resolved despite repeated meetings and organisational measures. Pace calls the accusations "false and fabricated". She acknowledges one mistake: in November 2025, she posted an invitation on the internal platform that wrongly presented a Gaza solidarity event as organised by the university, an error she corrected immediately. According to Politiken, internal emails suggest the administration was looking for grounds to justify her dismissal. One official asked what could be done with emails containing Gaza videos that Pace had sent to a colleague, and another manager replied: "I don't think that's enough?"

Pace eventually signed a severance agreement providing five months' salary on top of her six-month statutory notice. The university maintains the agreement was voluntary, while Pace says she accepted it on advice, for her mental health and her family. Employment lawyer Michael Møller Nielsen described the process as poorly handled and questioned whether she had adequate procedural protections. According to Politiken, the case unfolded in a tense climate at RUC, which had been attacked by leading politicians and where staff say they are afraid to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) has asked the government for answers, and Maltese MEP David Casa called the allegations "deeply concerning".