Statement on room-booking policy for events on Palestine at Utrecht University

Since late summer 2024, academic events on Palestine at Utrecht University have been subject to an exceptional and restrictive room-booking procedure. This policy has repeatedly been used to block or limit academic discussions on Palestine, regardless of their content, speakers, or scholarly merit. The policy resulted in events on Palestine being cancelled, relocated outside university premises or from the city centre to more peripheral locations, and self-censorship. No comparable restrictions exist for any other ‘politically sensitive’ topic, and no protests or disruptions have ever occurred in connection with academic events on Palestine at UU.

University administrators have stated that the policy was introduced on the advice of the Security department. Yet neither the rationale behind that advice nor the criteria used to apply the policy in each instance have been made public. In practice, the room-booking policy has been applied inconsistently and arbitrarily, affecting some staff and events while sparing others. The result is an inequitable system that singles out a single topic for administrative scrutiny, in clear tension with basic principles of academic freedom. 

The Palestine Lab, which aims to create an open, rigorous, and accessible academic space focusing on Palestine, has been particularly affected by this restrictive policy. Despite these adverse circumstances, the Palestine Lab has continued to host successful academic events on Palestine, which have attracted broad interest from the UU and society at large. A university should support and safeguard spaces where complex issues can be examined collectively and critically, drawing on scholarly expertise and diverse perspectives. Instead, the current approach restricts such conversations and undermines the very purpose of the Lab, of open science, and of the university itself.

We call on Utrecht University to end this special room-booking policy immediately. Academic debate on any subject must be treated equally and protected from administrative barriers that undermine staff’s ability to do their work. Restoring normal procedures for events on Palestine is essential to upholding academic freedom at UU, both in principle and in practice.

The core team of the Contesting Governance Platform