St Andrews University Rector, Stella Maris has been dismissed as President of the University Court. Chair of the University Court, Mr Ray Penman, announced the decision via an email sent to both students and University Staff on the 1st August.
In the email Mr Penman stated: “The Rector has been discharged because she has repeatedly declined to accept the conclusion of an independent investigation [led by Morag Ross KC, now Lady Ross] which found that she had made some St Andrews students ‘fear for their safety’, and by her actions and activities breached her responsibilities and legal obligations as a Court member and charity trustee.”
The independent investigation, led by Morag Ross KC, was commissioned following a statement Ms Maris made in November 2023 and its claims of an Israel-led genocide in Gaza. Following the statement, hundreds of students demand the Rector retract her remarks. Ross’s report also concluded that the Rector’s actions on social media “fell below the standards required of a Court member, ‘inflamed tensions’ in the St Andrews community, and represented a breach of her responsibilities to act with courtesy and respect.”
Mr Penman stated that the Court had accepted the report in full and had “pursued extensive, exhaustive dialogue with the Rector to seek a resolution that would allow her to continue to sit as President and a member of Court. We also offered facilitated discussion with an independent external mediator.” The statement goes on to state that Maris had continually refused to formally accept the findings of the report, and declined the Court’s offer of a facilitated discussion.
He went on to say that “The Rector was entitled to free speech but had exercised ‘poor judgement’ in the manner in which she wrote to all students to give her personal opinions on the conflict, specifically in ignoring the possibility that her words from a position of leadership could encourage antisemitic behaviour by others.”
Ms Maris has announced that she will appeal the decision, saying it “shows a lack of respect for the role of the Rector in speaking independently for students as their elected representative and sets a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech in higher education.” She added, “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.”
Following the sacking, St Andrews Student Association President, Cam Brown and Director of Education, Hitanshi Badani, issued a statement saying that while they could not comment due to being “legally bound by the rules of collective responsibility”, they were “concerned about the loss of student representative voices on Court since the Rector is no longer a member.”
However, the remaining Sabbatical Officers condemned the Court’s decision. Their statement described the Court’s decision as a “disproportionate response” and “inconsistent with the findings of the independent investigation”.
Despite being discharged as President and member of Court, Ms Maris will hold the title and office of Rector of the University until her term concludes in October 2026 since there is no mechanism for removing the Rector.
An open letter to the Principal of St Andrews University signed by over sixty prominent human rights advocates, academics, writers, artists, filmmakers and Israeli dissidents strongly condemn St Andrews University’s dismissal of Rector Stella Maris from the University’s governing board and calls for her immediate reinstatement:
We condemn the decision to remove her after she called for an end to Israel’s genocide and apartheid, a statement supported by the overwhelming majority of St Andrews University students.
We call on the University to immediately reinstate Stella Maris to University Court and as a trustee. Stella Maris should not be made a scapegoat for doing and saying the right thing.
The University is acting outside its legal duty to protect individuals’ academic freedom under the Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2026, part 2.
The silencing of pro-Palestinian or anti-genocide voices is one of the reasons why this genocide is still going on after 10 months.
The respected British Medical Journal – The Lancet – reports that the number of Palestinians killed directly or indirectly since October 7 is at least 186,000 people. The world is observing these atrocities unfold to the utter indifference of so-called world leaders.
We find it shocking that a university that prides itself on being a bastion of learning should stifle free speech by ‘victimising’ Stella Maris and bringing shame on St Andrews University.
Since Ms Maris’s statement, the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements violates international law and should end as soon as possible. The ICJ has further found a plausible case of genocide against Israel.
The idea that some Jewish students might feel threatened by someone effectively saying “Never Again” to genocide is implausible, especially as many young Jewish students are at the forefront of condemning this genocide. We are faced with the actual televised daily mass slaughter of women, children and babies for the past ten months. We have all seen the images. There is no excuse.
The idea that Palestinian human rights and the war crimes of Israel in Gaza cannot be discussed in higher education is deeply concerning. The question is: which side of history does St Andrews University want to be on?
Stella has repeatedly made clear that she accepts that she is bound by a Code of Conduct and the requirements placed on her as a charity trustee. She does not accept that these allow the university to interfere unilaterally and unduly in her right to express her views or manifest her protected anti-Zionist beliefs.
For too long, advocates for peace and justice in a free Palestine have been left to stand alone while the rest of us remained silent. That time is over. All human rights converge on Palestine, and the world demands change.
We therefore call on St Andrews University to reverse this decision and immediately reinstate Stella Maris to University Court. We further call on the trade unions and student body to unite and join the widespread calls for her reinstatement.
Signed:
Dr Robina Qureshi, Human Rights Advocate
Aamer Anwar, Human Rights Lawyer (former rector of Glasgow University)
Dr Ghada Karmi, Academic, Physician & Author
Yanis Varoufakis, economist, politician, author and the former finance minister of Greece
Professor David Miller (wrongfully dismissed for his anti-Zionist views by the University of Bristol as determined by an employment tribunal which established that anti-Zionist beliefs are protected under the Equality Act, 2010)
Peter Mullan, filmmaker (Orphans, Magdalene Sisters, Neds)
Paul Laverty (screenwriter of I Daniel Blake and The Wind that Shakes the Barley)
Einat Weizman, Israeli Actor & Director
Yonatan Shapira, Israeli Dissident, Refusenik, Activist & Musician
Ronnie Barkan, Israeli Dissident
Oliver Tickell, journalist/editor
Dr Carlo Morelli, UCU Scotland Honorary Secretary
Professor Henry Maitles (Emeritus Professor, Education, University of West of Scotland)
Dr Uri Horesh, Lecturer, School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews
Professor Phil Taylor (Emeritus Professor, University of Strathclyde)
Professor Haim Bresheeth, SOAS, London
Professor John Parrington, Treasurer, Oxford University UCU
Professor Geoff Whittam, GCU
Professor David Roediger, University of Kansas, US
Dr. Marcus Free, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick
Dr Piers Robinson, co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies
Dr Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, Branch Secretary, UCU Glasgow
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Media Officer for Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL)
Andrew Feinstein, Investigative Author, Broadcaster, Campaigner & Former ANC member of Parliament serving under Nelson Mandela
Mike Cushman, chair Free Speech on Israel
Gregory Brown, Historian, Basel Historical Museum (Switzerland)
Dr Agnes Kory (PhD, Musicology; Holocaust survivor)
Malcolm Segall, Jewish, retired paediatrician
Chris Romberg, Tutor and son of a Holocaust survivor
Dr Lorcan Smith
Mohammad Asif, Afghan Human Rights Foundation and human rights campaigner
Maz Saleem, anti-racist human rights campaigner, education for peace and daughter of late haji Mohammed Saleem
Natalie Strecker, Human Rights Activist & Campaigner, formerly served in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a Human Rights Monitor
Leah Levane, Co Chair Jewish Voice for Labour and former Humanitarian Eye Witness in South Hebron Hills (2014)
Sean Wallis, UCL UCU branch secretary, NEC member and HEC vice chair, University and Colleges Union
Roddy Slorach, branch secretary Imperial College London UCU
Cecily Blyther, Chair, Petroc, Devon UCU
Donna Brown, Chair, Royal Holloway, University of London UCU NEC
Dr Tim Anderson, Director of the Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies, Sydney, Australia
Dr Bee Hughes, Branch Secretary, Liverpool John Moores University UCU
Dr Mark Hayes, academic and activist
Dr Rachel Smith
Ross Gibson, Branch Secretary, Strathclyde UCU
Francesca Paini, Alumna, Class of 2022
Grant Buttars,Vice President, UCU Scotland
Najimee Parveen
Dave Sherry, Author and Glasgow Area Committee, Unite the Union
Christina Paine, activist and Chair of London Met UCU and NEC
Dr John Parrington, branch treasurer, Oxford University UCU
Aisling O’Beirn, anti-casualisation officer, Ulster UCU, NEC member
Linda Moore, branch president, Ulster UCU
Saira Weiner, branch secretary, Liverpool John Moores University UCU, NEC member
Nick Cimini, branch secretary of EIS-ULA at Edinburgh Napier University
Peter Evans, Branch Secretary, West London College UCU Branch
Glyn Secker, Secretary of Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL)
Pete Bicknell, UCU branch chair, Lewisham College and London Region FE Secretary.
Brian Kelly, Reader in History, Queen’s University Belfast; FOBZU Fellow, 2024-25
Jonathan Cook, journalist and author
Latifa Abouchakra, Reporter, Teacher and Trade Unionist (NEU)
Maria Chondrogianni, President-elect, UCU
Massoud Shadjareh, Chairman of Islamic Human Rights Commission
Jhangir Mahmood (Solicitor/ Director, Bishop Lloyd and JacksonSolicitors)
Rebecca O’Brien, Film Producer
Laura C Carreira, Film Director
Diana Beamish
Iona Fyfe, Musician and activist
Kal Sabir, Writer and Director
Faris Hayatleh
Martin Woodford
Richard Williams
Photo: University of St Andrews
