Gaza teach-in was cancelled due to lack of risk assessment, University of Sheffield says

The University of Sheffield says a teach-in about the ongoing situation in Gaza was cancelled due to it not following events safety guidance, despite organisers Sheffield UCU arguing it did not apply.

The teach-in for students of the university was due to take place on 1st October in the Hicks Building, with some of the university’s lecturers with expertise on the subject set to deliver the talk.

However, the organisers were informed by university security on the day prior to the event that it would be cancelled on the grounds that a risk assessment had not been completed and official event safety guidance had not been followed – something that Sheffield UCU believe was not “relevant” for this event.

Sheffield UCU said in a statement to The Sheffield Tab: “The events guidance, which was instead cited by security as to why the teach-in could not take place, only states that security must be consulted for “events that are deemed controversial or of higher risk”.

“As an internally facing set of talks, given by members of staff at this University for staff and students of this University, and on subjects researched and taught on by the staff giving these talks, we refute that this guidance is in fact relevant for the teach-in, or any internally facing research seminar or teaching activity.

“Regardless, an internal risk assessment, since conducted by UCU, deems the event low-risk, and we are deeply concerned that any activity that takes place at our University relating to historical and ongoing events in Palestine should automatically be considered ‘controversial’ or ‘high risk’.”

It also alleged that there had been a “pattern of increased security measures” at their events.

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“Deeming certain topics relating to Palestine to be ‘controversial’ with obscure guidance is being used to effectively silence academics working on these topics.

“Over the past six months, there has appeared to be a pattern of university management introducing additional security requirements for activities related to Palestine immediately prior to them taking place.

“This has the effect of ‘moving the goalposts’ for talks on a single topic which doesn’t seem to consistently apply to other topics, and raises serious concerns about Academic Freedom of Speech at our University.”

The university’s events guidance – released in April 2024 – says “any planned gathering or occasion that does not fall within the normal work duties or study activities” is classed as an event and is therefore subject to internal risk assessment.

The guidance also refers to the need for security to be consulted “for events that are deemed controversial or of higher risk”, although there is no evidence to suggest that this event was categorised in this way by the university.

University of Sheffield told The Sheffield Tab that the event safety guidance did apply to the talk as it was a UCU event and “not a standard internal teaching and learning session.”

“All University events are subject to a risk assessment, with organisers required to follow the event safety guidance, which is available on our website and has been shared with Trade Unions.

“This is part of the University’s duty of care to ensure the health and safety of guests, visitors, and participants at events.

“On this occasion, the correct process had not been followed and a risk assessment had not taken place, meaning the event had to be cancelled.”

The university spokesperson added it was “factually incorrect” to suggest the event had been cancelled due to it being “controversial”.

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