A tribunal of employment judges upheld the firing of a part-time engineering lecturer at a British university who said that “Jewish people are the cleverest in the world.”
Stephen Lamonby reportedly had lectured at Solent University in Southampton for six years until his dismissal in March 2019. The Algemeiner reported that Lamonby was in a meeting with Janet Bonar, his course leader, who mentioned she had a physics degree. Lamonby then asked Bonar if she was Jewish, saying that Jews have “a particular gift” at physics. Bonar became enraged at the remark, prompting Lamonby to respond: “I believe that the Jewish people are the cleverest people in the world. They are much maligned because of it. I asked if you were Jewish because of your ability with maths/physics etc. Which is a specialty of theirs.”
Lamonby also said during the meeting that Germans make for good engineers that Black people need extra help because they grow up without fathers. The university subsequently fired Lamonby for the remarks, calling it gross misconduct.
Lamonby appealed the university’s decision to an employment tribunal, arguing that his remarks about Jews were “positive stereotyping,” although he admitted that he was clumsy with his language and that he should have been given only a warning instead. When asked about his remarks about Black people, Lamonby said that he thinks Lithuanians need extra help too.
“I worked in Africa, Brunei, all over the world with these people,” he said during a tribunal hearing. “Perhaps it is inappropriate of me to say so but sometimes they need extra help.”
He also said that people who grow up in different countries have differing skills because of “high exposure.”
Bonar argued to the tribunal that she didn’t think that a person holding racist views should be teaching students. On July 21, the tribunal upheld the university’s decision to fire Lamonby. Judge C.H. O’Rourke stated in the ruling that although Lamonby intended for his remarks about Jews to be positive, it’s still stereotyping and could therefore be viewed as offensive.
“A Jew may well consider that as demeaning their personal intellectual ability [and] hard work,” O’Rourke said. “Secondly, it could also be simply grossly offensive, as the person may not actually be Jewish, but feel some characteristic is being ascribed to them. Thirdly, even if they are Jewish, they may quite properly consider it none of Mr. Lamonby’s business.”
Lamonby plans to appeal the ruling, arguing that it was the result of a “woke judge,” adding that “free speech is totally dead at universities.”
A petition was launched in support of Lamonby on July 22; the petition, which has more than 250 signatures at the time of this writing, calls on the university to reinstate Lamonby.
