Talks between student protesters and UCD following the establishment of a pro-Palestine encampment on the college grounds have reached an impasse, the university’s president said on Friday.
In a message to staff and students, Prof Orla Feely said that despite engagement on both sides over the past two weeks, there “remains a gap that could not be bridged”.
A camp was established on May 11th at the main lake at the south Dublin campus by UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU) and the college’s Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) group in protest at the college’s stance on Palestine.
Protesters issued a list of demands they want UCD to address, including calls for the university to end all academic ties with Israel; to disclose all academic and financial links with Israeli institutions and enterprises, and to commit to divest from any investments in the country; and to remove Israeli goods and supplier contracts from campus.
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Other demands include that the university release a public statement calling for an end to genocide and call for a “one state solution, absent of any ethno-states in the region”; flying the Palestinian flag on campus until a permanent ceasefire is agreed; and the naming of the Centre of Future Learning building after Palestinian writer and poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an air strike in Gaza last December.
UCD has said it has no investments in Israel or any bilateral partnerships with Israeli institutions.
Prof Feely said on Friday that UCD identified “significant steps” towards an agreement with protesters, including enhancements to its “university of sanctuary programme” and “scholars at risk” programme that would see more Palestinian students and scholars welcomed to the campus.
“We had also indicated our desire to seek new institutional partnerships with Palestinian universities. We also proposed establishing a working group, including student representation, to develop a policy on ethical investment for approval by the governing authority,” she said.
“It is deeply disappointing to the university that these elements, among several others, were not sufficient for a final agreement with the students’ union to end the encampment.”
Prof Feely acknowledged the “outrage felt across our university community at the terrible level of death and destruction in Palestine and in the October 7th attacks on Israel”. She said the university had an “enduring commitment to academic freedom, expression and safety”.
In her message, Prof Feely also said there had been a “worrying change in the tone and types of behaviour from those within the encampment and this is increasing anxiety across our campus community”.
“The university has continually reminded the students’ union that their protests must be peaceful and in line with university policies. And we are monitoring the behaviour and actions of those in the encampment and will continue to prioritise the safety and welfare of all on our campus,” she said.
Last week, slogans, including “long live the intifada”, “Zionism is terrorism”, “death to Zionism” and “up the Ra”, were written in chalk on the campus. Members of UCD’s BDS group said at the time that the slogans were “easily taken away” and criticised the university for focusing on the slogans instead of the “genocide in Gaza and Palestine as a whole”.
Earlier this week, following complaints, college authorities removed an image of the Hamas flag from outside the encampment.
A spokesman for UCD said the “flying of such a flag on campus is wholly unacceptable” and that, following reports received, the university’s estates staff immediately removed the flag.
[ Gardaí called to UCD after students who occupied building were removed by staffOpens in new window ]
There were also complaints over a number of posters erected at the camp depicting Palestinian military leaders as well as activists. They included Yahya Ayyash, known as the chief bombmaker of Hamas, who was killed by Israeli security services in the mid-1990s.
UCDSU earlier this week said it had only been involved in peaceful protests and accused college authorities of heavy-handed security, including the removal of students from a building. The university said masked student protesters had been lawfully removed from the building.
University of Galway, meanwhile, has told staff and students that it does not hold any investments in Israeli companies.
Dr Helen Maher, the university’s vice-president for equality, diversity and inclusion, said in an email that it is continuing to review ties with Israel and Palestine in light of its “commitment to peace, justice, and accountability and to the rule of international law”. The review report will be completed towards the end of next month and will be made public.
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