The commemoration of Professor Cleveringa, the symbol of Dutch resistance to antisemitism, was abruptly interrupted this week by activists who occupied the Academy Building. This not only violated a tradition but also brought the debate about the limits of protest within the university into sharp focus.
On November 26, 1940, Rudolph Cleveringa (1894-1980) gave a public lecture in the Academy Building of Leiden University. During that period, he was dean of the law faculty.
The National Socialist occupiers demanded by decree the dismissal of all Jewish staff and students. Professor Eduard Meijers (1880-1954), Cleveringa's supervisor and professor of private law, was to be dismissed. Meijers was supposed to give a lecture on that day, November 26. Fortunately, Meijers survived the Nazi terror.
Instead of Meijers, Cleveringa spoke - his speech has gone down in history as a protest speech. He was arrested by the Germans shortly after his lecture. This marked the beginning of the Leiden students' resistance against the Nazi regime. In a few compelling paragraphs, he describes Meijers:
"Yet how rich in diversity, how thoroughly thought out, how brilliantly conceived and executed, how incisive has been everything that has flowed from Meijers’ pen and elevated him to one of the greatest legal scholars of his time and his country: indeed, one might say, of many countries and many eras. I say: rich in diversity."
The most moving part of Cleveringa's lecture does not concern Meijers' scientific achievements, but Cleveringa's intense, courageous appreciation for Meijers, for a Jewish professor during the darkest period in European history:
"It is this Dutchman, this noble and true son of our people, this human being, this father of students, this scholar whom the invader, who currently dominates us as an enemy, ‘relieves of his position!' I said I would not speak of my feelings; I will keep to this promise, although they threaten to spill like molten lava through all the fissures that I, at times, feel could open up in my head and in my heart under their pressure.
But in the faculty, that - as is apparent from its purpose - is committed to justice, this comment may not be left unsaid: in accordance with Dutch traditions the Constitution declares that every Dutch person is eligible to be appointed to any service of his country and to hold any rank and any office, and affords him, irrespective of his religion, the enjoyment of the same civil and citizen rights.’
I am also a professor at the faculty of Cleveringa and Meijers. Every year on November 26, our university invites a professor to give the Cleveringa Lecture in the same auditorium (in the Academy Building) where Professor Cleveringa once gave his historic public lecture. And, of course, there is always something going on in the world: the Vietnam War (3.5-4 million dead), the Algerian War of Independence (hundreds of thousands dead), the Afghanistan War (hundreds of thousands dead), and now the war in Sudan (400,000 dead), and so on.
Nevertheless, the commemoration of Cleveringa's courage - a rare quality at that time - was held every year without disruption. On November 26, 2025, however, an attempt was made to prevent the Cleveringa lecture from taking place. Masked activists - around 40 students and non-students - united in Students for Palestine illegally occupied the Academy Building.
The occupiers of 2025 want the university to break all ties with the "genocidal Zionist regime". They believe they are acting in the spirit of Cleveringa. In the spirit of Cleveringa?
Cleveringa protested, unmasked, against Jewish exclusion
The difference between protest and intimidation: A misplaced comparison with 1940. Cleveringa protested against the compulsory dismissal of Jewish staff and students. He was not masked. He did not occupy a lecture hall. He held a public lecture, legally and in accordance with university rules, after which he was arrested by the Gestapo. Now in 2025, the new occupiers are acting in the spirit of the old occupiers: boycott, avoid Jewish scholars. Moreover, they chanted slogans calling for the destruction of the only Jewish state in the world.
A line was crossed here. This radical group has the right to protest against any government. They could have protested outside the building on public streets. What they are not allowed to do is obstruct a lecture (an inaugural address is a public lecture). The action group not only violated the university's house rules but also violated the sacred principle (academic freedom) on which the academy is founded.
Cleveringa did not disrupt or obstruct anyone's lecture. He stood up against antisemitic measures. Every year on November 26, we commemorate Professor Cleveringa's courage in standing up for Dutch Jews. On November 26, 2025, activists sought to make this public lecture and the commemoration of the struggle against antisemitism impossible. This day is once again - it is painful to note this - a disgrace for the professors who remained silent, stood by, and watched. The Executive Board's powerlessness to guarantee the security of a lecture hall in a historic building is, to put it mildly, baffling. No, there can be no sympathy whatsoever for activists of this kind.
The dean and faculty board of Leiden University's law faculty moved the meeting to the law faculty. In doing so, they demonstrated courage and historical awareness in a country where most Jews were arrested and murdered during the Second World War. Many were unable to attend the lecture. Nevertheless, Cleveringa's successors at the law faculty deserve warm compliments for ensuring that the lecture went ahead.
But some people show empathy for the Students for Palestine action group. They need to realize what they are doing. Soon, action groups that do not suit their agenda will also demand the freedom to occupy buildings for their "ideals": action groups that demand an end to immigration, do not want asylum seekers' centers, support US President Donald Trump, etc. Anyone who approves of this pro-Palestinian action must grant everyone the freedom to disrupt lectures. The law applies to everyone. Selective justice is not justice. But presumably those who agree with this action would not approve of actions against immigrants or in favor of Trump. What matters to them is primarily their own rights.
Now is the time for professors to make their voices heard. No one should force us to take censorship measures. Academic dialogue within academic walls is an open conversation with respect, without violence, and without the threat of occupation. Academic freedom and safety for everyone – that is what Cleveringa risked his life for.
Become a Cleveringa – stand up against antisemitism.
Afshin Ellian is professor of encyclopedia of Jurisprudence (legal theory and legal philosophy) at the Faculty of Law, Leiden University.