The rector at one of Britain’s top universities has been dismissed from its ruling body after “inflaming tensions” on campus by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians.
Stella Maris has been stripped of key positions at the University of St Andrews after she repeatedly refused to accept the findings of an independent report highly critical of her conduct in the wake of Israel launching its offensive against Hamas.
Ms Maris, who became rector in November 2023, issued a message to thousands of students that month denouncing “weeks of genocidal attacks by the Israeli government against Gaza” and referring to “apartheid”.
She went on to accuse Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinians and included links to “stridently anti-Israeli” websites.
These included conspiracy theories about the Hamas attacks.
On Thursday, the University Court, its governing body, stripped Ms Maris of her role as its president and as a charity trustee, in what it admitted was a “difficult and unusual” move. She will no longer sit on the court, described as being the institution’s “supreme governing body”.
It said it had been left with no choice after Ms Maris refused to accept the findings of an investigation that her statement and “combative and hostile” social media activity created division.
Ms Maris vowed to appeal the judgment and repeated her claim that there was a “genocide”, a position she said was supported by a majority of students.
Ray Perman, the senior lay member and chairman of the University Court, said that there had been “extensive attempts at dialogue over three months” with Ms Maris.
‘Serious breach of responsibilities’
However, he said court members concluded that she was guilty of a “serious and persistent breach of her responsibilities and can no longer sit as president”.
Mr Perman added: “We wish to stress most explicitly that the rector has never been asked to diminish or change her support of the Palestinian cause, only to acknowledge that in her handling of this matter she caused distress and fear to some students, whom it was her duty to support and represent.
“As the chairman of University Court, I wish to offer an apology to all students, and others, who were upset or feared for their safety as a consequence of the rector’s handling of this matter, and those who were subsequently upset by the rise in tensions and disagreements which ensued.”
Ms Maris, an English and philosophy graduate at the university, will remain rector until 2026, a post in which the holder is traditionally expected to represent students.
She had insisted that she had an obligation to speak about what she believed did amount to a genocide and to use that term.
‘Very poor judgment’
However, Morag Ross KC, who carried out the investigation, found that she had displayed “very poor judgment” and ignored the possibility her outspoken statements “might encourage the expression of anti-Semitism by others, especially in a tense and divided environment”.
Ms Ross went on to describe it as a concern that Ms Maris “sees and responds to one group who are distressed”, on her own side of the debate, “but dismisses, and even disparages, the distress of another group”.
The investigation found that for some St Andrews students, the rector’s words had been an “important source of comfort”.
However, they provoked a backlash among others, with an open letter calling for a retraction being signed by hundreds of students and alumni.
In her report, Ms Ross said that some Jewish students “were very distressed and angry, with feelings of fear for their safety” as a result of Ms Maris’s interventions.
The rector said she was “disappointed” by the decision. She claimed it “shows a lack of respect for the role of the rector in speaking independently for students” and “sets a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech in higher education”.
Adding that she would appeal the decision, Ms Maris said: “It is clear that I have been removed from University Court because I called for an end to Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians, and I will not apologise for doing so.
“As a young, neurodiverse black woman with limited financial resources, I have faced the full force of the university, including a KC investigation, all because I made a statement supported by the overwhelming majority of students, calling for an end to a genocide.”
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