Joseph Daher, a respected Swiss-Syrian academic, one day found his module on Middle Eastern politics at Lausanne University suddenly and abruptly cancelled, leaving his around 60-plus students signed up for the classes baffled.
‘History of International Relations post-1945’, with a special focus on the Middle East, was to be a hugely important module for the next cohort of politics students at the renowned Swiss university, which Daher had spent months preparing for after signing a contract to teach the course in the spring term.
There was no explanation from Lausanne University’s administration as to why the course had been terminated, but it effectively ended Daher’s years-long relationship with the institution despite the renewal of contracts for future modules being a relatively straightforward procedure.Â
For Daher, there was little doubt about the motive for the university ignoring the contract he had signed for the course, which follows months of friction between the two parties over his outspoken support for Palestinian rights.
“As a pro-Palestine academic, who has been quite active both inside and outside the university on the issue, these problems have all been connected to Palestine,” Daher, who also writes for The New Arab, said.
“For the past year, I have faced attacks from far-right and right-wing political parties and media in Switzerland, basically calling for my head, accusing me of anti-semitism… so I have no doubt this is all related to Palestine.”
Lausanne has remained silent on the issue and has made no public statement about its decision to effectively fire Daher – a notice on the university website saying the professor’s module was no longer proceeding was the only indication that ties had been cut.
It did not respond to The New Arab’s request for comment as to why it was not proceeding with the contract Daher had signed and sent back to the admin, but the university has been accused of using legal loopholes to end its relationship with the professor.
The incident follows a series of run-ins between Daher and the university administration over his staunch and public pro-Palestine views, including around Christmas 2023 when he posted a picture on social media of Jesus wearing a keffiyeh.
After an opaque investigation by the university into the issue – and strong protests from Daher – the case was dropped, which was viewed as a win for academic freedoms amid a stifling atmosphere on European university campuses for pro-Palestine activists.
“They didn’t tell me what I was accused of, just presented the image [of Jesus] without any context… so when they abandoned the issue, we thought it was something of a victory,” Daher told The New Arab.
Later, the university pressed Daher on another issue – lending his access card to a student who took part in a campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.
While Daher acknowledges this act officially bends the university’s strict security rules, such practices are also fairly common among academics, allowing students to pick up books or papers from teachers’ offices, or in Daher’s case, giving a young woman, he knew and trusted, a safe space to pray and eat during a Gaza protest.
After repeatedly extending the investigation into the matter, the university eventually dropped the case and issued no sanctions against Daher but appeared to walk back on contractual obligations to the professor.
“They considered that I had violated my duties to the university and put the security in danger, which is completely wrong, but because my contract was coming to an end they would not take any sanctions against me,” Daher told TNA.
“They made an investigation for six months, they issued no sanctions, and they didn’t acknowledge that my contract was to be renewed. So why did they conclude this by the 31st of January? If they didn’t, I would be entering a new contract with the university so they would have to fire me.”
Daher said he was preparing to fight the university’s decision, and had the full support of fellow academic staff and students who were standing in solidarity with him on his future at Lausanne.
“We want to maintain the pressure and I am really grateful to my colleagues and students for their support, they have been great trying to put pressure on the university, making posters condemning the repression against me, so it is great to see,” he said.
