A secret government dossier on an academic’s “militant left” social media posts is a chilling example of state censorship, the head of the universities union has warned in a letter to Science Secretary Michelle Donelan.
The 11-page internal Government file, seen by i, catalogued three years’ worth of one academic’s social media posts which supported transgender rights, Black Lives Matter, lecturer strikes and criticisms of No 10.
A senior Government source confirmed the document was drawn up last week by special advisers in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) after Ms Donelan, requested information on a specific group of academics.
In a letter to Ms Donelan, University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady accused the Government of double standards by “lecturing” universities on freedom of speech, while at the same time engaging in activity that could lead to a “crisis of academic freedom”.
The letter said it was “ironic” Ms Donelan had led the “most open attack on academic freedom we have seen in Britain in some time”.
“Your attacks on academic freedom,” added Ms Grady, “[are] deeply damaging to the UK’s higher education sector and its global reputation.”
In Ms Grady’s letter, she said: “I am writing to express UCU’s alarm at evidence published in the i newspaper… suggesting that your special advisers in the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology wrote a dossier compiling the views, social media posts, academic records, and trade union activities, of university staff.
“This dossier suggests that you are a driving force behind Government attacks on academic freedom and freedom of speech.
“What kind of chilling effect do you imagine your surveillance and heavy-handed censorship has?
“If you choose to spend the remainder of your time in office attacking university staff and degrading democracy in the process, then you will face a united trade union and sector fighting you every step of the way. We will take whatever action is necessary to defend our members.”
The Government source explained how Ms Donelan was initially concerned about some academics’ social media commentary about the Israel-Hamas conflict, and requested further details about whether their online presence “crossed over from legal speech into more sinister territory”.
The dossier, on an academic i has chosen not to name, was split into three sections: “anti-racism”, highlighting posts in support of Black Lives Matter, “transgender advocacy” and “militant leftism”, which included posts in support of strike action.
i has seen evidence that Ms Donelan’s advisers also gathered material on the social media profiles of at least four academics, though it is understood there are no other dossiers of the same kind about other professors.
The dossier revelation marked the latest development in an ongoing free speech row facing the Government, with ministers accused of trying to silence academics, despite promising to uphold academic freedom.
An advisory group of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) decided to suspend its entire equality board earlier this week, sparking major backlash from academics and a flurry of resignations.
UKRI confirmed the suspension on Tuesday after Ms Donelan expressed her “disgust” at some members’ views on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
An open letter signed by more than 3,000 academics has condemned the move as an attack on academic freedom.
Ms Donelan responded to the accusations saying she is “on the record as a staunch supporter of free speech” and “would never authorise a sweeping collection of the views of academics”.
She added: “I was informed that a public body I am responsible for was appointing advisers without doing any due diligence on their appointments – this is far below the standard I would expect for any public body and that’s why UKRI are doing a review into their governance.
“Following this failure, it’s absolutely right I asked for more information on this board and the process to appoint the advisers before I acted.
“People can tweet about what they like within the laws of free speech – but I, like most people, was sickened by the pro-Hamas tweet that was discovered and acted swiftly.”
