Source: Alamy

Queen¡¯s University Belfast has announced ¡°a full risk assessment¡± to determine whether a symposium about the Charlie Hebdo murders, cancelled earlier this week, can go ahead.

The event, titled ¡°Understanding Charlie: New perspectives on contemporary citizenship¡±, was due to take place in June.

On 20 April, the organisers sent an email saying that vice-chancellor Patrick Johnston had decided the symposium should not go ahead because of concerns about ¡°the security risk for delegates and about the reputation of the university¡±.

On 21 April, however, Queen¡¯s issued a counter-statement that the cancellation was a result of the event¡¯s organisers, the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, failing to complete the appropriate risk assessment.

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After the cancellation attracted much criticism on grounds of academic freedom, the university issued a further statement on 22 April stressing that ¡°Queen¡¯s is, and will remain, a place where difficult issues can be discussed¡±. It also reported that a new risk assessment had been commissioned, due for completion by 1 May, which would guide the university¡¯s decision-making.

However, a slightly different version of events was provided by one of the people involved with the event. Speaking anonymously, they told Times Higher Education that it was their understanding that a ¡°General Risk Assessment Form¡± had been completed on 23 March.

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Asked for a comment, a spokesman for the university said that, when ¡°a funding application to support the symposium¡± had been submitted earlier this week, it had not included ¡°a complete risk assessment¡±, which requires consultation with external bodies such as the police.

In order to ¡°ensure a safe and secure environment for all our staff, students and visitors¡±, it was this which was being carried out now, the spokesman said.

matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com