28/05/2024
Welcome to Lund University where students are dragged head-first down stairs after being invited to attend a meeting with management representing the Rektor's office! Deputy Vice-Chancellor Lena Eskilsson and Pro Vice-Chancellor Jimmie Kristensson were at the meeting representing the Rektor's office after Rektor Erik Renström claimed he was too sick to attend the meeting. In other words, the ultimate responsibility for this shameful violence against peaceful students rests entirely at the feet of the Rektor's (aka Vice Chancellor's) office co-led by Rektor Erik Renström and University Director Susanne Kristensson.
In a related matter, the Rektor's office is also ultimately responsible for allowing the deleting of an emailed letter sent by another concerned student to state employed University staff after the violent event, to express their concerns. This email tampering shows an authoritarian streak in this Rektor's office that has been used before (as documented on this page in previous reports). It also shows how out of control and tone deaf this Rektor's office is to the harm they are causing their students.
Both the physical abuse and the electronic censorship are the latest incidents at the behest of Renström and Kristensson to shut down dialogue with Lund University students using 'Master Suppression' style cover up tactics, including smearing students in local media –– which is another favourite tactic of the Rektor's office that was reported on this page previously in the case regarding the abuse of an early career researcher in the Faculty of Medicine when Renström was Dean at that faculty.
In addition, this most recent public incident is yet another blow to academic freedom on campus, particularly the right to participate in political discussion as described in UNESCO's binding statutes to which Sweden is a signatory (as described in earlier reports on this page).
The short story is that peaceful students were lured into an office for a meeting, after the management refused to meet outside the building. These same students were then physically abused by being dragged head first down the stairs by police at the request of representatives of the Rektor's office. This is a serious matter that warrants discussion of not only the incident itself, but one could also argue if it is time for the entire Rektor's office, including Renström and Kristensson, to resign given their willingness to flaunt Swedish law by abusing students.
This is not the first time that the Lund University Rektor's office (first under Torbjörn von Schantz, and then under Erik Renström, both with Susanne Kristensson at their side) has acted recklessly in ways that harm students and early career researchers alike. The Rektor's office under von Schantz, Renström and Kristensson has repeatedly failed to exercise their "duty of care" legally required in their handling of students by law.
Here's an excerpt of a letter of protest in response to this violent incident instigated by the Lund University management against its own students:
"We, academic and administrative staff of Lund University, are appalled by the university management’s treatment of student representatives who were invited to the meeting with Deputy Vice-Chancellor Lena Eskilsson and Pro Vice-Chancellor Jimmie Kristensson yesterday, on 23 May, as well as the official communications pertaining to that meeting.
We are deeply troubled by the management’s decision to call the police to “escort” the invited students out of Kungshuset or, as photographic evidence shows, violently drag them down the stairs and literally throw them out of the building, where, according to the Vice-Chancellor’s previous remarks, they had received a “standing invitation” to enter. The actions of the university management represent the utter neglect of a university’s responsibilities towards its own students. We, as teachers and university administrators, have a duty of care. Students are entitled to expect from us that university premises are safe spaces for them. Not living up to those minimum standards is shameful, utterly dishonourable. Exposing the students to or threatening them with the use of violence is unacceptable. It is not a justifiable response to students peacefully waiting for a response regarding scheduling a subsequent meeting, to which the management committed.
[...] Before the encampment in Lundagård began, students and staff had been seeking contact with the management and a response to their demands for months. Therefore, we find the students’ insistence on clear information about the date of the next meeting or about the time by which such meeting is to be scheduled perfectly understandable. We cannot afford waiting for seven more months for the university management to reply, watching tens of thousands of civilians being brutally murdered, with thousands more being starved to death as we write. That the University administration found it more suitable to call the police than to commit to scheduling the next meeting by a reasonable point in time shows the utter lack of good faith in conducting any conversations with its own students – a fact that also throws some doubt on the reasons behind the lack of constructive dialogue that the official communication laments.
We stand in solidarity with the students and urge the University administration to refrain from putting students at risk, engage with them in good faith dialogue, and guarantee them safety and protection."
What can be done? Show solidarity with the students and demand accountability of the Rektor's office! Tell them that their brute force 'cancel culture' and Master suppression tactics will not be tolerated! You can raise your voice and show your support along with the students, academic researchers and administrative staff who have already rallied to support the injured students by signing the letter at the following link: https://www.luap.se/response
A "duty of care" is owed by all university administrators and professors to all students at all times without exception! It's time to demand that the Rektor's office ensures the safety of all Lund University students! By signing the letter, you can show your support for student safety, academic freedom and stand against the abuse of students by this out of control, authoritarian, unlawful Rektor's office that ignores its "duty of care".
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/lundstudentsforpalestine/p/C7cuof5ilmz/?hl=en&img_index=7
