4 days ago
Trinity College announces divestment from Israeli organisations and universities
TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN has announced its decision to divest from Israeli organisations and academic institutions.
It follows a vote by the university's board to heed the recommendations of a special taskforce that looked at TCD's ties to Israel amid its ongoing siege of Gaza.
Last May,
a five-day camp-out by students
on campus prompted the university to divest from companies that were operating in Occupied Palestine and were on the United Nations' blacklist.
Today's decision takes divestment a step further. While ongoing research contracts will be honoured, TCD said there is 'no evidence to associate any of these with breaches of international humanitarian law or human rights violations' and that the taskforce accepted that it 'cannot readily extract itself from these agreements'.
Still, TCD will not enter into any new European research consortia that involve Israel. It will also actively lobby the EU Commission to exclude Israel from such collaborations.
There are currently two Erasmus+ exchange agreements between TCD and Israeli universities. In an email to staff and students, TCD said that participation in these programmes has been 'on an inbound basis only' since September 2023 and that no new agreements will be made after these end.
TCD doesn't currently have any contracts with Israeli suppliers. As recommended by the taskforce, it will stay that way.
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David Landy, a sociology professor at TCD and member of Academics for Palestine, said it's a significant decision, but not one made in isolation.
In recent months, a number of European universities, including Utrecht and Barcelona, have made no bones about distancing themselves from Israel, citing discontent with its actions in Gaza.
Last year saw a wave of pro-Palestine student protests sweep across the continent, involving several encampments that were hard for institutions to ignore.
'This is a significant day for Trinity and for Irish-Palestinian solidarity, and reflects the resolve of student and staff campaigners,' said Landy.
'However, it is difficult to feel glad when Israel's genocide in Palestine continues.
'Trinity's delay in acting has led to the university entering into three new research projects with Israeli partners over the past year, some of which will continue until 2029.'
TCD Students' Union President Jenny Maguire said she was dissapointed that TCD had not withdrawn from ongoing projects involving Israeli partners who provide military technology and training.
The university 'had to be forced by student direct action to acknowledge Israel's genocide' and 'had taken over a year more to act,' she said.
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