The Students’ Union at Trinity College Dublin (TCDSU) has pledged to persist with their protest until all requests related to the college’s connections with Israel are completely satisfied. Meanwhile, threats to intensify campus protests are looming from the student body at University College Cork.
Dublin’s Trinity campus, famous for hosting the Book of Kells, has experienced closure to the general public since last Friday evening. This was due to students setting up a camp near the popular tourist site in objection to Trinity’s association with Israel.
In response to a Monday meeting with protesters, the university agreed to divest from Israeli firms appearing on the United Nations Human Rights Council’s register of corporations participating in unlawful Israeli settlements, including three companies that the institution’s endowment fund is invested in.
Moreover, the college confirmed the initiation of a task force to analyse further engagement with Israeli establishments, and opportunities for eight students from Gaza to study at Trinity. The institution expressed outrage over the Gaza attacks too.
Despite this, demonstrators demand the termination of all relationships with Israel including additional investments and commercial dealings with Israeli providers. They have also called for the university to revoke its €214,000 penalty for the financial deficit caused by protest-related disruptions during the last academic year.
The TCDSU underscored its commitment to maintain the peaceful protest till all requests are fully met, including demands for the exoneration of students previously involved in on-campus protests, as well as the annulment of the €214,000 charge levied on the Students’ Union. The union expressed hope that these matters would be thoroughly addressed during future negotiations.
The TCDSU has further applauded the university’s choice to view the protest as a campus issue rather than involving the police. This encourages more participants to join the protest without fear of academic penalties or legal backlash.
Simultaneously, the Students’ Union at University College Cork (UCCSU) has threatened harsher protest measures should similar requests not be granted. In a public letter addressed to UCC’s president John O’Halloran, the union expressed their attempts at gaining the university’s support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The union has organised rallies and walkouts in recent times, insisting the college publicly declare its stance on the Gaza crisis.
Regrettably, all our efforts to date have been met with either a wall of silence or commentary about the university’s desire to stay ‘politically impartial’, as stated in the letter.
The union admonishes that passivity in the face of unfairness can be equated to siding with the wrongdoer. Hence, they request that UCC, as a significant catalyst for international change, uses its influence to demand a halt to this unfairness.
The representatives are pressuring UCC to publicise a declaration “denouncing Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians”.
They are also advocating for a promise not to entertain ‘symbolic visitations’ from government officials until the government agrees to impose sanctions on Israel or until the Occupied Territories Bill is put into action.
The UCCSU also requests the severance of relations with Israeli bodies following the principles of the BDS movement, and the provision of assistance to Palestinian academics.
The letter requests a swift reaction to these appeals.
In absence of a satisfactory response to these demands by the end of business hours on the approaching Friday, the union warns they won’t hesitate to resort to additional measures.