By Saira Afzal and Vasavi Singhal
Photos by Saira Afzal
Between 26-29 November, LSESU Palestine Society hosted ‘LSE United Against Scholasticide’, a week of action dedicated to raising awareness about the destruction of educational institutions in Gaza.
Special procedures of the Human Rights Council have used the term ‘scholasticide’ to refer to the systematic destruction of educational infrastructure and the arrest or killing of teachers and students. According to UN experts, Israa University was the last remaining university in Gaza, which was demolished in January 2024 by the Israeli military. UN experts say at least 60% of educational institutions have been damaged or destroyed during the conflict in Gaza.
LSESU’s Palestine Society, in collaboration with University and College Workers for Palestine and LSE Liberated Zone, hosted a week of events, protests, and a school-wide walkout to bring attention to the issue. The week’s events reflected a commitment to link “academic repression” in Palestine to the academic community in the UK, according to one of the student organisers.
One of the events was a vigil for martyrs on Tuesday, November 26. During the vigil, participants made a mural, drew messages in chalk on the Centre Building (CBG) Plaza ground, and lit candles in commemoration of students and educational staff lost to the ongoing war in Gaza.
An attendee at the vigil on Tuesday said the week was part of a broader campaign by Right to Education, to call for “united action against scholasticide” in Gaza. They emphasised that LSE and the wider academic community carry a responsibility to bring awareness to scholasticide, and that the destruction of educational institutions in Gaza affects the entire academic community.
One of the demands of pro-Palestine protests on campus was for LSE to impose an academic boycott on Israeli educational institutions. Student protestors believe LSE is “complicit” in the act of scholasticide in Gaza, due to its investment holdings in companies contributing to “crimes against the Palestinian people.”
On 27 November, students organised a student and staff assembly, and a ‘Rally against Scholasticide’ in the CBG Plaza. During the student-staff assembly, a speaker from the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability said “academic freedom is important and essential”. He said there has been looting and destruction of libraries in Palestine, and that Palestinian academics should be supported to finish their courses remotely.
A second speaker, from the LSE’s Department of Geography and Environment, said scholasticide dismantles possibilities for life in Palestine. They said “education is resistance” and that education can “liberate [the mind] from occupation”.
On 28 November, multiple pro-Palestine groups attended an inter-university rally, after LSE staff and students staged a schoolwide walk-out at 12:30pm in the CBG Plaza. Students moved towards King’s College London (KCL) to join the walkout there after reports emerged of a pro-Israel protest. Multiple students and staff spoke at the protest about the importance of “scholarly solidarity” and pressuring universities to divest through student-staff mobilisation.
One anonymous LSE staff member highlighted the issue of “casualisation” at LSE. Casualisation describes the short-term, ‘precarious’ contracts that many staff are signed to. According to Cambridge UCU, workforce casualisation is “the conversion of stable, secure jobs into short term, part-time, temporary or hourly paid work”. The LSE staff member said LSE uses casualisation as “a way to discipline staff for dissenting [views]”. They said it is “no surprise” LSE has “high rates” of casualised contracts while staff are “afraid” to speak out.
A KCL senior lecturer, who is a part of the UCU, agreed that casualisation is a problem, saying it was a “major issue” across UK universities. In addition, they said members of staff who were part of UCU had been “targeted politically” for speaking about Palestine, and that the Union represented members of staff who were “targeted” in national media. The KCL staff member said the UCU had consistently called on KCL to support “the rebuilding of higher education in Gaza”, and to divest from Israeli institutions.
The ‘United Against Scholasticide’ week concluded with an ‘Assets In Apartheid’ teach-in, referring to a report released by the society earlier in the year uncovering £89 million in “egregious investments” in LSE’s investment portfolio.
In addition to divestment and an academic boycott, LSESU Palestine Society have called on LSE to “provide educational resources to Palestinian children and academics”, as well as “platform Palestinian scholars”.
An LSE Spokesperson said:
“While we do not recognise the picture painted by reports regarding casualisation, LSE has been working closely with the union on proposals to reduce any unnecessary use of fixed term and hourly paid roles, and to improve the experience of staff who are in such roles.”
“Free speech and freedom of expression underpins everything we do at LSE. LSE staff, alongside our students and visitors, are encouraged to discuss and debate the most pressing issues around the world in a mutually considerate manner.”
“LSE has clear policies in place to ensure the facilitation of discussion and debate, and to protect individual’s rights to freedom of expression within the law, no matter their position within the community. This is formalised in our Code of Practice on Free Speech and in our Ethics Code.
Additionally, the Spokesperson highlighted that between 2016/17 and 2021/22, the number of permanent ‘teaching and research’ staff at LSE (such as Assistant, Associate and Full Professors) increased from 600 (580 Full Time Equivalent – FTE) to 630 (610 FTE).
The Spokesperson clarified that LSE employs academic staff in many different roles, from research assistants and graduate teaching assistants to permanent staff, and that previous analyses of trends over time have conflated these roles. Further, they said many fixed-term roles covered in HESA data are designed for career development, such as the LSE Fellow position tailored for recent PhD graduates.
On supporting members of the academic community who are affected by the destruction of educational facilities in Gaza, an LSE Spokesperson said:
“LSE has been actively seeking to support scholars from Gaza impacted by the conflict, and our efforts on this front will continue.”
“LSE Scholars at Risk (LSE SAR) is a School-wide, centrally funded initiative to support scholars at risk by enabling them to be hosted at LSE in a visiting fellow or senior visiting fellow status for a period of up to two years. The visitor status comes without an employment contract, but the School is open to financially assisting hosted fellows through arrangements with external partners.”
“In addition to scholars, LSE provides support and guidance for refugees, forced migrants and displaced students who are looking to study at the School and throughout their time with us.”
LSE offers support for researchers through the LSE Urgency Fund, which aims to “fund world-class research related to unpredictable, discrete and abrupt events such as pandemics, conflicts, environmental impacts and abrupt policy change.”
The Spokesperson shared that LSE offers support for forced migrants, refugees and displaced students, such as financial support through scholarships and admissions support.
Further, LSE’s Middle East Centre is creating a programme of research and capacity-building called the ‘Palestine Programme’, supporting Palestinian recovery and Palestinian higher education institutions, scholars and students. The Centre is currently fundraising to support various long-term research projects, to hire Visiting Fellows from Palestinian higher education institutions and to fund student scholarships for Palestinian students.
