Dr Helen Adamson, a lecturer in agri-ecosystems at Newcastle University, has become the subject of intense controversy with over 100 students, staff, and alumni calling for her to step down after she attended a rally with the anti-immigration campaigner Tommy Robinson.
In a video, which has circulated widely on Instagram and TikTok, Dr Adamson is shown interviewed at the rally for a social media account called PoliticsJoe. She says that she came there “with love, in love, hopefully with kindness”.
Adamson goes on to explain that she is concerned about “the media who label Tommy Robinson as far-right and racist”, adding “I don’t think he is. I don’t know the man, but I’ve listened to what he’s said, and I have never heard him incite violence. I’ve only heard him ask for peace. I’ve never heard him say anything racist”.
Tommy Robinson is a prominent anti-immigration campaigner and right-wing activist. Most notably, he was the co-founder and de facto leader of the English Defence League from 2009 to the mid-2010s.
However, Adamson did not merely defend Robinson. She also told the interviewer that she had grown concerned for her own rights and was starting to feel “persecuted” as a Christian. “I’m beginning to feel like I’m losing my freedom of speech. There’s things I can’t say.”
Seemingly determined to prove Adamson’s point, a group of students at Newcastle decided to write an open letter calling for the University to “take immediate action”. The letter claims that the video makes them feel “deeply disturbed” and accuses Adamson of associating “with a figure [Tommy Robinson] known for inciting hatred and discrimination”.
The letter goes on to say that Adamson’s actions are “incompatible with the values of equality, diversity, and inclusivity, and respect that underpin a leading academic institution like ours” and demands “support” for “those hurt by Dr Adamson’s actions and words”. It requests continuous updates on “how the University is able to ensure that students can work in an environment with hate and discrimination, especially in the academic body”.
In the initial video, Adamson had expressed concerns “that there might be an infiltration of values that I don’t think are good because of other religions.” When asked to specify which religions, Adamson responded “I think Islam is potentially a huge problem. I love Muslims […] I hope you don’t cut that out. […] I find there’s a lot of things in [Islam] that if people knew about, they wouldn’t defend it”.
Earlier in the interview, Adamson had conveyed a worry about the increasing difficulty of talking about this very topic, saying “I can say something that’s just opinion, and it might be accused, for instance, of being Islamophobic”.
As if on cue, the open letter also addressed this point, stating that “[t]he views she [Adamson] has expressed are prejudiced against people of Muslim faith, are deeply hurtful, and equally do not align with the university’s values”. As such, the letter demanded that “Dr Adamson step down from her position as [School of Natural and Environmental Sciences Postgraduate Research] Co-Director”.
The letter has reportedly been signed by more than 100 students, staff, and alumni of Newcastle University. Despite being an “open” letter, there does not appear to be a public list of signatories, but if the reporting is correct, we may hope that none of those who put their names to this list of demands are themselves academics. Students are often confused about free speech, but academics should know better.
Determined to please everyone – and thereby pleasing no one – a spokesperson for the University said that they “respect the right to Freedom of Speech within the law and are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone feels safe, respected and able to express their ideas”, adding that “support is available for those affected by views they find hurtful or distressing”.
While it is reassuring that the University will “respect the right to Freedom of Speech”, one would hope for a less equivocal statement. The truth is that there is no controversy here. Academics (and everyone else for that matter) are free to attend legal rallies and share their opinions in interviews on social media. No one should be disciplined, fired, or forced to step down for perfectly legal political activity.