Trapdoors: Palestine solidarity and the authoritarian potential of invisible academic bureaucracies

Abstract. In this intervention, we raise concerns about the latent authoritarian potential of academic bureaucracies to restrict or even prohibit spaces for critical exchange on highly politicized issues. We introduce the term “trapdoors” to describe how academic bureaucracies are able to silently limit free speech on controversial topics such as Palestine solidarity. Trapdoors are rules and regulations, such as fire safety measures, that normally do not impede academic activities but which can be activated to silence uncomfortable interventions. What defines them is their inconspicuousness: hidden in plain sight both within the academic bureaucracy and from the public eye. Based on various examples that received media attention, our own experiences, and some interviews with other affected people, we argue that these practices are currently being used to silence critical student and academic voices on the genocide of Palestinians. We see these practices as a potential threat to academic freedom, as they can easily be expanded upon for authoritarian ends.