Queen Mary University of London: systematic removal of Palestine solidarity material from campus

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has faced repeated complaints since February 2024 over the suppression of Palestine solidarity material on its campus. Two episodes structure the case.

February 2024: the break-in at the union office. On 19 February, university management asked the local UCU (University and College Union) branch for access to its office, located behind the Queens Building, in order to remove posters produced by UCU and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign calling for an end to the killing in Gaza. The branch agreed to arrange access but stated that union material should not be removed. The following day, 20 February, while access was still being arranged, security officers forced entry into the office, confiscated the posters and caused damage to the premises. Management had justified its request by claiming the posters were having a "chilling effect on freedom of speech" on campus.

The university responded that it supports free speech within the law, invoked its responsibility for the safety of its community, and specifically targeted the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", which it said some members of its community regard as antisemitic and threatening; it added that permanent displays on university premises could be read as an institutional position. It also disputed the branch's account of how long the posters had been up, stating that the university only saw them on the Monday and removed them on the Tuesday, where UCU says they had been in place for over two weeks. The branch escalated the matter to UCU nationally and described the action as unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Education Act No. 2 (1998) and Office for Students regulations.

Late 2025-early 2026: the general ban. Several Schools at the university adopted a policy prohibiting the display of any material expressing solidarity with Palestine on academic office doors and windows. According to the UCU branch, the policy followed direct pressure from the Principal, acting on unsubstantiated allegations that the material was antisemitic, and was accompanied by frequent removals and by implicit and explicit threats of disciplinary action. The material affected included posters and stickers produced by the union itself. The branch adopted a motion at a branch meeting on 16 December 2025, committing to support a collective grievance and a complaint to the Office for Students, and to defend any staff member facing disciplinary threats, through industrial action if necessary.

On 7 January 2026, the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom wrote to Principal Colin Bailey and to the heads of two Schools. It raised four concerns: the conflation, in senior internal communications, of "pro-Palestine", "anti-Israel" and "in places antisemitic" material; the selective application of "institutional neutrality", with pro-Palestinian material removed comprehensively, including where it was linked to research or teaching, while other political material remained in place, which risks amounting to viewpoint discrimination; the unproven nature of the "chilling effect" attributed to the posters, when the removal instructions themselves create a clear and immediate one; and the principle that discomfort at lawful speech is not grounds for restricting it.