Second UCD statement on Ukraine invasion ‘late and grudging’

University College Dublin's decision to issue a second statement to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as "completely unjustified" is "necessary, late and grudging", a college professor has said.

Prof Ben Tonra resigned as vice-principal for internationalisation and global engagement over UCD’s first statement where it expressed concern about the “situation” and the “unnecessary and tragic” loss of life.

Saying he was "deeply, profoundly ashamed", Prof Tonra said the university's first actions showed that it is too concerned about ensuring that it does nothing to damage its relations with China.

UCD, which has been home to a Chinese-backed Confucius Institute since 2006, is reluctant to condemn Russian aggression because it might at some stage have to do the same about China, he suggested.

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Prof Tonra resigned from the senior role in global engagement – an unpaid post – but will remain on the university’s staff.

Other academics have also been critical. Prof Alex Dukalskis, who lectures in the School of Politics and International Relations on authoritarian regimes, said it is now "crystal clear" that UCD has a problem with such regimes.

“In 2020 they tried to weaken the university’s academic freedom standards to make them friendlier to the university’s goal of ‘strategic internationalisation’,” he said.

Just last week, he said university president Andrew Deeks encouraged the entire UCD community to feel "proud" of the institution's links with the Chinese government.

That, he said, was “an unconscionable thing” to say given China’s human rights record, especially since some UCD staff and students “may themselves have been targets of repression by the Chinese state”.

Prof Anne Fuchs, director of the Humanities Institute of Ireland in UCD, said she was "ashamed" of the "poor tone and pathetic choice of words" of the original statement.

“In my view it displays dangerous ambiguity and moral relativism. The fact that UCD had to clarify its position only underlines the absence of moral leadership.”

She said Ukraine deserves “our undivided solidarity”. And she added: “That is why it is important to take issue with the choice of words. It is not a ‘situation’. It is a war of aggression. It was a wholly inadequate and pathetic description of a war.”

UCD professor of Politics David Farrell said it was "regrettable" that UCD had to be pushed into making a second statement.

“At the very least [the original statement] showed a clumsy touch. An independent nation state is being invaded illegally in a criminal act by another state. That is an invasion and anything that describes it as less than that is not an appropriate statement,” he said.

Deeks’ reaction

Saying he wanted “to be clear”, Prof Deeks added that he was “appalled” by what had happened in Ukraine “as a consequence of the illegal incursion and aggression of the Russian armed forces. UCD deplores and condemns the action of the Russian government and military in invading and attacking the people of Ukraine. This act of aggression is a violation of international law and is completely unjustified.”

History has shown that invasions of a sovereign country where the government has the people’s support are “a recipe for a long and drawn-out conflict which the invader has little chance of winning”, he said.

“The human cost of such wars is tremendous, and my personal plea to the Russian government is to immediately cease military operations in Ukraine. Withdraw and resume diplomatic negotiations regarding the security of the region.”

There are also signs of disquiet within UCD’s 40-member governing authority. One member, Cllr Dermot Lacey, said the original statement “was unnecessarily careful” and said it was time to review the college’s links with the Confucius Institute.

A report by a special European Parliament committee on foreign interference in democracy recently reported that several universities in Dusseldorf, Brussels, Hamburg and all universities in Sweden have ended their co-operation with Confucius Institutes because of the risks of Chinese espionage and interference.

It called for more European universities to “reflect on their current co-operation to ensure that it does not affect their academic freedom”.