23 February 2025
Several years ago, Goldsmiths was persuaded by pro-Israel activists to launch a lengthy and expensive investigation of antisemitism on campus which is still ongoing. We now learn from Middle East Eye that it has been obliged to apologise and financially compensate a lecturer for suspending him, thus disrupting his personal and professional life, while investigating a wholly spurious charge of antisemitism against him. The same pro-Israel activists submitted these accusations to Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) to which the lecturer was connected, and to its great credit QMUL declared there was “no case to answer”. Is it too much to hope that in future other universities will follow QMUL’s lead?
London university apologises to lecturer wrongly accused of antisemitism
Goldsmiths also pays damages to Ray Campbell after dismissing complaint against him over social media posts
The Campaign Against Antisemitism sent a complaint letter about Dr Ray Campbell to Goldsmiths and Royal Holloway University for his social media posts (Supplied)
By Areeb Ullah
Published date: 19 February 2025 15:31 GMT | Last update: 3 days 10 hours ago
A London university has apologised and paid a settlement to a lecturer for causing him “distress” and suspending him during an investigation which cleared him of allegations of antisemitism.
In August 2023, Goldsmiths University launched an investigation into Ray Campbell after receiving a complaint from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) about comments he had posted on social media.
The complaint, based on posts collected by GnasherJew, a pro-Israel monitoring group, accused Campbell of posting antisemitic content that targeted Jewish figures and drew comparisons between Israel and Nazis.
Campbell, an associate lecturer in theatre and performance at Goldsmiths and a teaching fellow at Royal Holloway University, denied the claims.
During the investigation, Goldsmiths suspended Campbell for five months. This meant he was banned from the college campus and denied access to his email. Campbell said these actions had severely disrupted his personal and professional life.
The posts under investigation concerned comments Campbell had made citing reports about Ethiopian women in Israel being given contraceptive injections without their consent, and a comment on a tweet posted by the journalist Robert Peston about the UK’s chief rabbi Ephraim Mervis.
The CAA also sent the same complaint letter to Royal Holloway, which held one investigation meeting with Campbell and said there was “no case to answer”.
Commenting on his case, Campbell said he was “shocked” that Goldsmiths had accepted the claims made against him by a source he described as “problematic”.
“When I saw the accusations against me, the first instinct was to laugh. The evidence was so shoddy. If my students presented something like that to me in an essay, I would ask them to go away and find some evidence,” Campbell told Middle East Eye.
“Goldsmiths persisted with the disciplinary process because I suspect they needed a scalp to present to the independent inquiry and justify the amount of money they spent on this exercise [the inquiry].”
In 2023, Goldsmiths launched an independent lawyer-led inquiry into allegations of antisemitism at the university. The inquiry has been criticised for its methodology and perceived lack of balance in considering broader issues of racism and free speech.
The CAA is a UK-based charity that describes itself as combating antisemitism through advocacy, legal action, and public awareness efforts.
It has faced controversy over allegations that it conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, raising concerns about its impact on political debate regarding Palestinian rights.
In its statement to Campbell, Goldsmiths University said it “acknowledges that all the allegations brought against you under Goldsmiths’ disciplinary policy have been dismissed after a thorough investigation and disciplinary hearing.
“We confirm that no further action will be taken against you. While the college is right to seriously consider and investigate complaints of discrimination, it regrets the length of time the disciplinary process took while you were suspended and prevented from teaching.
“We apologise for the distress that this must have caused you.”
Last June, Goldsmiths University adopted the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition on antisemitism, which critics argue conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
During the investigation, Campbell said Goldsmiths ‘relied heavily’ on the IHRA definition.
“I am very concerned for academic freedom in the wake of October 7. The pro-Israeli voices are becoming increasingly shrill, which is a sign of their desperation.” said Campbell.
‘When I saw the accusations against me, the first instinct was to laugh. The evidence was so shoddy’
“Some will be intimidated into going on antisemitism awareness training courses run by CAA. I would advise them to resist.”
Campbell advised academics facing similar accusations to contact their local union representatives for support.
Tasnima Uddin, an advocacy and communications officer at the European Legal Support Centre, said Campbell’s case exposed a “troubling trend of institutions weaponising disciplinary processes to target anti-Zionist voices” and described the outcome as a victory for academic freedom.
“The case of Ray Campbell is a stark reminder of how universities have become complicit in silencing critiques of Zionism under pressure from external actors,” said Uddin.
“Universities need to uphold their commitment to free expression and resist the undue influence of Zionist lobby groups that seek to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
“The misuse of frameworks like the IHRA definition to retroactively punish lawful speech sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the principles of academic freedom.”
A spokesperson for Goldsmiths, University of London said, “We take the confidentiality of our staff’s personal information seriously and will not make any public comments.”
