The UCL professor embroiled in controversy over misogynistic comments made against a female Palestine activist last November has today resigned as head of the Eastern European studies department.
Richard Mole, Director of the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (SSEES), today bowed to pressure from student groups calling for his resignation after a video in which he told a student “No man would want to touch you” went viral this week.
Mole was previously cleared of wrongdoing by a formal UCL investigation which concluded in just 12 hours, sources have told The Cheese Grater.
In an email sent to SSEES students, Mole said: “I want to use this opportunity to fully acknowledge how unacceptable my actions were, to express that I deeply regret them and to apologise.
“The event of November 2024 was disrupted by protestors. It was a very tense and stressful situation, which resulted in the police being called, but there are no circumstances that excuse my actions or the comments I made to one of the protestors.”
He also apologised for the public attention the controversy has brought to SSEES and said he has taken the decision to step back from his duties as the School’s director with Professor Simon Dixon taking over an interim capacity for the remainder of this term.
The news follows days of pressure from a range of student groups as well as the Students’ Union, which issued a statement condemning Mole’s actions “in the strongest possible terms” and called on UCL to reopen its investigation into the incident.
Some 60 students and staff attended a rally outside SSEES yesterday calling for Mole’s resignation to “keep misogyny and Islamophobia off our campuses”.
The video, posted by activists at UCL Stands for Justice, has now been seen by nearly 330,000 users.
Mole was seen shoving one protester and, when asked to back off, said: “I’m not touching you. I wouldn’t want to touch you. No man would want to touch you.”
Asked why he was following the protesters, he said: “It’s because I’m the director of the School.”
In an updated statement, the Students’ Union said: “Women should feel safe on campus, and seeing a member of staff in a position of power treat a student in this way has understandably shaken students’ trust in our institution.
“We’re worried about the impact this incident, and the video circulating widely on social media, will have on Muslim women in particular, many of whom have reported a rise of Islamophobia on campus to us.”
