Stockholm university

Taking a stand against hate speech and threats

President’s blog 16 March, 2023

During a meeting in Karlstad today, the general assembly of SUHF (The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions) has decided on a joint position against hate speech and threats, which all presidents have signed.

Our starting point is our core mission as universities and colleges, which is to transmit knowledge, to create new knowledge and to question existing knowledge, a mission which we must fulfil not only within the higher education institutions themselves but by operating in the middle of society. Today, we are deeply concerned about the expressions of hatred and threats directed at researchers and teachers that have been increasingly witnessed in recent years, and which have been described in Swedish press recently by a number of climate scientists. With our stance we want to show that this is a development that we strongly repudiate and that we perceive as a direct threat to both academic freedom and personal freedom of expression. Our position is as follows (translated from Swedish):

“We, the presidents of Sweden’s higher education institutions, work actively to ensure that research results are used to develop our society and our understanding of it, and we encourage our employees to participate in public debate.

We condemn all types of threats against employees at our higher education institutions when they carry out the institution’s mission.

All threats that come to our attention will be reported to the police.

We will introduce broader supporting measures in terms of preventive work as well as support after employees have been exposed to threats and harassment. In this way, we ensure that our staff will get the support they need.”

Astrid Söderbergh Widding
President

Read more from the President’s blog

Astrid Söderbergh Widding
Photo: Eva Dalin