UU wants no more events related to Israel and Palestine in the city centre

Due to recent occupations, the Executive Board considers it risky to continue holding activities about Israel and Palestine in the city centre. According to a spokesperson for the university, organising this type of event on campus offers a "better guarantee" that the debate will happen "safely and quietly". However, the university underscores that it is "extremely important that these events continue to be held."

Earlier this year, pro-Palestine protesters occupied the courtyard of the university library as well as UU buildings at Drift and Janskerkhof. After these events, the university started closing surrounding buildings in the city centre whenever events related to the conflict would take place, as a precaution. The Executive Board feared that an afternoon with workshops and poetry held in May would generate an occupation, as some students placed tents in the library's courtyard. The university then decided to close the courtyard after consulting with the municipality and the police. All city centre buildings were closed as well that afternoon.

Questions
UU's buildings in the city centre buildings house the faculties of Humanities and Law, Economics & Governance. Therefore, students and staff from these two faculties are particularly affected by the Executive Board's decision.

In July, members of the Humanities Faculty Council expressed their disappointment about dialogue sessions planned not taking place in the city centre.

The Law, Economics & Governance Council also asked questions to the Executive Board. "Is this a decision by the Executive Board or the mayor? Will the boards of the faculties located in the city centre also be included in the decision-making process?", asked the faculty council in writing ahead of a meeting with the university's administrators.

Elaine Mak, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Economics & Governance, informed the faculty council that the Executive Board had talked to the municipality and the police. For each event, "an assessment" will have to be made "to decide if it can take place in the city centre or if it should be moved to USP." According to the dean, the debate about the conflict between Israel and Palestine should be conducted in a way that guarantees the safety of the university's students and employees and doesn't disrupt educational and research activities.

A tough nut to crack
Faculty council member Stefanie Beyens understands why the Executive Board no longer wants activities about Gaza to happen in the city centre. However, she fears that academic freedom might be at stake. “I understand the security considerations, but it bothers me that the location of our events is decided according to police capacity," says Beyens. In her view, the change of place functions like “a silencing mechanism” in practice. 

As an example, she mentions the theme day organised by the Descartes Centre for Science and Activism. Initially set to happen on May 21 in the city centre, the event had to be postponed because it was hard to find a place for it at USP. The organisers write that the postponement is due to the impossibility of “guaranteeing a safe and open space”.

The fact that activities are being cancelled at the last minute does not contribute to a good debate about the matter, she finds. The faculty council member notes that, in her own department, employees do not dare to speak at events about the subject. "People start to censor themselves and teachers no longer organise such events as a result."

Dilemma
Faculty council member Machiko Kanetake, from Law, Economics & Governance, does not believe that the university should be allowed to prohibit a certain location in advance. “The university should only consider alternative settings when the situation is unsafe,” she believes. After all, safety also depends on “who wants to demonstrate.”

The faculty council member is one of the initiators of a statement signed by the International Law Group and addressed to the Executive Board. In it, the authors strongly condemn the deployment of the riot police to disperse protests at the university.

According to Mak, this is also an “unsatisfactory situation” for the university. After all, a university should be interested in holding dialogues in education and research. “I understand the feeling that this is conflicting. I recognise that and other people have indicated as such.” According to the dean, the Executive Board has taken the interests of the police and the municipality into account in this "dilemma". 

Festival Europa
Festival Europa, which was held in the run-up to the European elections, was also discussed in the faculty council meeting. On May 31, UU held a whole day of lectures, workshops and presentations about European politics at the Neude library. The topics discussed included migration, climate, security, democracy, the rule of law, citizen participation, and inequality, but not Israel-Palestine.

Mounir Samuel, one of the speakers that evening, was mad at the organisers for that reason. The well-known publicist wrote on LinkedIn that the Executive Board's decision not to allow any activities on Israel and Palestine to take place in the city centre meant that speakers were “forbidden in advance” to talk about Israel-Palestine at Festival Europa. “The Festival discussed any topic under the sun, but Israel-Palestine couldn't be placed in a broader European (but also intellectual) perspective.” Samuel posted a video in which he is making a statement on stage. He tied a Palestinian flag around his mouth because “freedom of expression is being restricted”.

In a written question submitted in advance, the faculty council inquired why Samuel was not allowed to mention the war. Kanetake said during the meeting that she talked about it with the organisers of Festival Europa, who told her that it wasn't “possible” to include a “specific part about Gaza at the festival, but speakers could mention the subject.”

Other content-related choices
According to Dave van Toor, Project Manager for Festival Europa, it is not true that speakers couldn't mention the conflict between Israel and Palestine at the festival. According to him, the only thing that happened was that organisers decided not to add a specific section on Gaza to the programme last minute.

“We started organising this event in September 2023. Once the programme is set, it is not easy to adjust it. You have to approach speakers and propose other times. Moreover, the festival was about the European elections. The European Commission and its position on Gaza are ultimately only a small part of that.”

“Other topics were prevalent on the European political agenda when we started planning the event – and these topics are still high on the agenda today. You may agree with it or not, but we've made other content choices based on that and opted not to change the programme at the last minute.” According to Van Toor, the Executive Board's decision to move Gaza-related activities to USP did not influence the festival's programme.