Students at UCD are now into their second week of camping on university grounds in support of Palestine. On the previous Saturday, an estimated crowd of 60 undergraduates took part in a protest march that began at the Stillorgan bridge entrance of UCD, traversed the entire campus, and concluded by setting forth their list of 12 demands to the university.
This campus sit-in, coordinated jointly by the UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU) and the university’s Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) group, incidentally marks the second such activity to take place in an Irish university in a matter of weeks.
Earlier this month, a similar camp was disbanded at Trinity College, after causing disruption to public access to the Book of Kells, when the university consented to withdraw its investments from three Israeli firms. These firms are part of Trinity College’s endowment funds.
The students at UCD want the university to cut all academic collaborations with Israel; to publicly disclose any academic and financial links to Israeli institutions and businesses; to offer scholarships to Palestinian students; and to create opportunities for Palestinian academics at UCD. They are also demanding the removal of Israeli goods and suppliers from campus premises.
Other demands comprise keeping the Palestinian flag hoisted on campus till a permanent ceasefire is brokered and naming an under-construction building, the Future Learning Centre, in memory of Palestinian author and poet Refaat Alareer, who lost his life in a Gaza air raid last December.
A social sciences student at UCD, 22-year-old Aoife, confirmed having been part of the campus sit-in since its inception. She stated that they had received overwhelming support, with much of it specifically coming from UCD’s academic staff. She expressed her personal belief in standing against acts of genocide, oppression, and colonialism for which her education at UCD had prepared her. Over the past few months, the university has been the site of several Palestine solidarity protests.
In April, a protest was held by UCD students opposing Nancy Pelosi’s visit, the erstwhile Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who was on campus for an honorary degree presentation. Martha Ní Riada, the Student Union leader, was ejected from the commencement ceremony by security personnel after she labelled Pelosi as a “Zionist and war criminal.”
Both the Ireland Palestine Support Campaign and the Irish Anti-War Movement voiced their support for the demonstration on Saturday at UCD. Jim Roche, the secretary of IAWM, and also one of the founding members of Academics for Palestine, praised the students for placing “their ethical responsibility for freedom and justice ahead of their personal academic aspirations and potential future careers”.
Roche expressed disappointment at the ongoing silence of Irish university heads, despite numerous pleas from staff and students, since the 8th of October. He hopes Irish University leaders now take the path of righteousness and demand an instant ceasefire. Additionally, reiterating the call for sanctions against Israel, Roche proposed that universities should state their intention to terminate any institutional investments or academic associations with Israeli government-supported institutions.