2 weeks ago
30
A former student is suing a London university for £98,000 in damages as a result of her expulsion after she was impersonated on a social media account that posted hate speech about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Sarah Mbabazi* was expelled from her undergraduate degree at Richmond American University London for misconduct in 2024 after the university received a complaint relating to posts on X that she had allegedly written. She argued that she had been impersonated; however, the university determined that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate this.
Mbabazi raised a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) on the grounds that the university had failed to appoint an expert in social media, and had not examined the digital files she had presented as proof the account was not hers. She said the account had been created deliberately with a name similar to her social media handle to cyberbully her.
The OIA upheld her complaint on grounds that the university had not properly explained its reason for the expulsion, and asked that the university reconsider her case and review its disciplinary procedures, since it had not provided a written summary of the panel meeting that considered Mbabazi’s case.
Richmond American University London subsequently appointed a new panel to review Mbabazi’s expulsion, which decided “there was no evidence to prove that you were the author of the tweet and therefore you were not in breach of the student code of conduct”.
Mbabazi has since been granted the opportunity to re-enrol in the university and receive damages; however, she does not believe they are enough to cover the financial loss sustained from her expulsion, which included supporting herself for more than a year and the potential impact on her career progress. She also wants a full apology from the university, which she said she had not received.
As a result, Mbabazi has filed a civil claim in the county court. A hearing has not yet been scheduled.
She said: “In the 18 months I was expelled I had to deal with the social stigma, I lost access to funding – a lot of harms were placed upon me.”
Mbabazi added that she was considered a vulnerable student due to family estrangement and mental health problems including depression and anxiety, which she said had worsened due to her expulsion.
She believed she that she had been cyberbullied and catfished online. “They posted inflammatory tweets – their profile was shot of my Instagram picture and then a link to my Twitter profile and my name. One difference between my account and the impersonated account was mine had the letter T and theirs had L,” she said.
She noted that as online impersonation and catfishing were comparatively recent phenomena, she believed the university’s investigation did not consider the possibility that “I could be the one being bullied”.
A Richmond American University London spokesperson said the university was “committed to maintaining fair and transparent academic and disciplinary processes for all students, in line with our conditions of registration with the Office for Students and the procedures of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator”.
They added: “While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we take any concerns raised seriously and provide clear opportunities for appeal and review.”
* Name has been changed to preserve anonymity.
