by Freddie Ponton, Activist Post:
David Miller said he was “overwhelmed and delighted” when the judgment arrived on August 4. The former professor of political sociology had spent seven years under complaint, investigation or litigation after his teaching and public statements about Zionism drew pressure at the University of Bristol. He lost his position, failed in an internal appeal and fought through two tribunal proceedings to establish that the university had acted unlawfully.
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On August 4, 2026, the Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld findings that Bristol discriminated against Miller because of his anti-Zionist belief, dismissed him unfairly and breached his contract by denying him notice. The decision now carries appellate authority, so employment tribunals across Great Britain must follow its legal reasoning when materially similar disputes come before them.
Miller joined Bristol in 2018 after holding professorships at Strathclyde and Bath. His academic work examined state and corporate propaganda, public relations, Islamophobia and the networks that shape political debate. The Zionist movement was one of his research interests. Until the dispute began, Bristol had never subjected him to disciplinary action.
The pressure that came before dismissal
The first complaints arose from a lecture he gave in February 2019. Miller had discussed Islamophobia and identified parts of the Zionist movement as one of the forces involved in fostering it. The process began after two students approached the Community Security Trust, which passed their complaints to Bristol. On April 4, a later complaint was submitted by Nina Freedman and Hannah Rose, then presidents of Bristol Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students respectively.
Bristol appointed Aileen McColgan KC to investigate the complaints and related questions about Miller’s conduct. Her first report arrived in December 2020 after a process that had occupied almost two years of his professional life. She paid close attention to the relationship between the disputed speech and Miller’s research and concluded that his conduct could not reasonably be treated as misconduct. Her overall finding was that there was no formal case to answer on any matter she had examined.
The finding brought no lasting relief. On February 13, 2021, Miller spoke at an online event titled Building the Campaign for Free Speech. He described Zionism as racist and Israel as a settler-colonial society. He also placed Bristol Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students within the wider organisational structure of the Zionist movement.
