University College, London. Photo / Getty Images
The university accused of forcing a Nobel Prize winning scientist to resign over sexist comments is at the centre of a new row over freedom of expression.
University College London (UCL) already stands accused of being heavy-handed and pandering to a 'baying witch-hunt' on social media in its handling of the resignation of Sir Tim Hunt as a professor in its life sciences department, following remarks he made about women scientists.
Now further allegations have emerged after UCL shut down an exhibition highlighting the problems of sexual harassment and sexual violence suffered by its female students.
The two incidents have led to fears that UCL is more concerned about protecting its own reputation than allowing freedom of expression.
UCL last November shut down the WriteBack! exhibition, organised by the University College London Union (UCLU) women's network to encourage female students to write down their experiences on pieces of paper and pin them to the walls of a room within the campus.
When one former student posted an allegation that she had been sexually assaulted by a UCL academic - in which the academic was not named - the university authorities reacted by shutting the exhibition down by locking the room.
Students offered to redact a part of the alleged victim's posting, removing any possibility that the academic could be identified, but the university refused.
The exhibition's organiser Annie Tidbury, UCLU's women's officer, said: "The attempt to cover up this allegation suggests that UCL prioritises institutional reputation over student welfare. We at UCLU stand in solidarity with survivors of harassment and assault. We refuse to censor them."
Miss Tidbury said she had asked UCL to investigate the former student's claims but was told the events had happened 'some time ago'. "They said they needed to protect staff," she said, adding: "There wasn't much consideration given to protecting students."
David Davis, the Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary, said UCL appeared too quick to silence opinions which it might find annoying or embarrassing.
"As a university and therefore a centre of freedom of speech, UCL should be willing to tolerate a degree of annoyance. We should be careful about punishing people for what they say and that's doubly true of a university, which is supposed to be repository of free speech," he said.
Mr Davis added: "We also need to be ultra careful that we don't allow an unrepresentative lynch mob to dictate what its OK to say in public."
The mystery of how Sir Tim was forced to resign from UCL deepened last night with one ally insisting the university should overturn the decision to accept his resignation and launch instead a proper inquiry to look at the context in which the remarks were made.
It is claimed by Sir Tim's wife that a senior member of the UCL faculty telephoned her and told her that her husband should resign as an honorary professor. He duly did so while UCL accepted his resignation without speaking to him first about alleged sexist comments made during a speaking engagement in South Korea.
Sir Tim, one of the most distinguished biochemists in thew world and who won a Nobel Prize in 2001, offered his resignation after allegedly telling a World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, delivered at a lunch for female journalists and scientists: "LET me tell you about my trouble with girls ... three things happen when they are in the lab ... You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry."
The comments were almost certainly light-hearted and not meant but caused outrage after being circulated on Twitter. The Telegraph understands that UCL authorities tried to contact Sir Tim by telephone in South Korea but could not reach him and failed again to contact him when he arrived at his home in Hertfordshire. Failing to do so, they then spoke with his wife Professor Mary Collins, a professor immunology also at UCL. According to Prof Collins' version of events, she was told by a senior UCL academic that her husband should resign.
It is understood that the academic who spoke to her was Professor Geraint Rees, the dean of the faculty of life sciences. Sir Tim was an honorary professor in the same department.
Prof Rees declined to deny he had spoken with Sir Tim's wife. UCL also refused to deny that it was Prof Rees who had made the call.
Sir Tim duly resigned prompting a massive backlash in the academic world against UCL.
Among those lining up to offer support were some of the most distinguished and best known scientists in the UK, including Professors Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox. Professor Dawkins said last week: "Along with many others, I didn't like Sir Tim Hunt's joke, but 'disproportionate' would be a huge underestimate of the baying witch-hunt that it unleashed among our academic thought police: nothing less than a feeding frenzy of mob-rule self-righteousness."
Dame Valerie Beral, professor of epidemiology unit at Oxford University, told The Telegraph UCL needed to reconsider the resignation. "He has been drummed out," she said, "I just think those comments were self-deprecatory. He will have said it as a complete joke. There wasn't any need for him to resign. UCL should not have been so quick on the phone to him and his wife. I would love to see this whole saga revisited. They should change their minds and refuse now to accept the resignation."
Several Nobel prizewinners have come to Sir Tim's defence, saying UCL had been wrong to "force" his resignation.
Sir Andre Geim, of the University of Manchester, who shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 2010, said: The saddest part is probably the reaction by the UCL top brass who forced Tim to resign. So much for the freedom of expression by the very people who should be guardians of academic freedom."
Jack Szostak, of Harvard University - who won a Nobel Prize for medical biology - said it was "frightening to see how one stupid comment can ignite a global firestorm of criticism", while Avram Hershko, the Israeli scientist who won the 2004 Nobel Prize for chemistry, said Sir Tim was "very unfairly treated".
In contrast, Miss Tidbury welcomed UCL's handling of Sir Tim's comments, saying: "We at UCLU are glad to see UCL dealing with sexist behaviour in such a prompt and proactive manner."
UCL defended its decision to shut down the sex harassment exhibition in December last year and its handing of Sir Tim's decision to quit.
In a statement, UCL said: "Sir Tim Hunt's personal decision to offer his resignation from his honorary position at UCL was a sad and unfortunate outcome of the comments he made in a speech last week. Media and online commentary played no part in UCL's decision to accept his resignation.
"UCL sought on more than one occasion to make contact with Sir Tim to discuss the situation, but his resignation was received before direct contact was established.
"UCL accepted his resignation of his honorary position in good faith, and in doing so sent a clear signal that equality and diversity are truly valued at UCL."
The university said its decision to shut the UCLU exhibition on sexual harassment was taken only because the authorities believed a member of staff might be identified as a consequence.
"We absolutely condemn sexual harassment of all kinds and have actively supported the exhibition at UCL through providing space to enable students to air their thoughts," said a spokeswoman. At the time, the university said it was not dismissing or trivialising "these very serious allegations" and was urging the former student who wrote the complaint "to work with UCL in fully investigating the allegations and in approaching the police".
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