Photo: Shutterstock. A group of employees, students and alums call on the executive board to issue statements condemning the occupation of Palestine. WUR says it will not take a position in this conflict.
Over 25 students, employees and alums have sent a statement to the executive board calling for a stand in favour of supporting Palestine and condemning the violence against Palestinian civilians. They also call on WUR to afford students and employees from Palestine the same commitment and support given to Ukrainian students and employees during the war in Ukraine.
‘We ask WUR to publish their position on the website’, says Beatriz Lopes Cerqueira. She is a master’s student and one of the initiators behind the petition. ‘We cannot remain silent while this history is being made right before our eyes.’ The group supporting Lopes Cerqueira consists of 25 individuals. ‘But we are growing every day.’
A WUR spokesperson comments that taking a stand in this conflict is not up to WUR. ‘We are a university, not a political organisation. Our thoughts go out to all civilians affected by this conflict. In their interest, we hope the violence on both sides ends so that peace and stability may be restored.’
The double standard of treatment between Ukraine and Palestine is shameful.
It is interesting that the WUR did take stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict:
https://www.wur.nl/en/newsarticle/ukraine-wur-community-support.htm?_ga=2.28983932.1925442290.1699028820-1143247964.1697120245
We see the same thing happen for example with Veganism. As the WUR refuses to grant FOS money to the Vegan Student Association as to “Not take a political stance”, but has no trouble supporting associations with hunting groups (e.g. Ceres). Essentially, everything the board wants to support, they support, and everything they don’t want to support is “political”.
We call on students, staff, and alumni to increase the pressure on our university and sign this petition. If you support this call, please consider signing and sharing the petition below.
https://www.change.org/p/wur-support-palestine-a-call-for-action?source_location=petitions_browse