Foto Shutterstock At least 378 employees want WUR to sever ties with Israeli institutions and universities.
So write five WUR employees in a letter they sent on Tuesday, also on behalf of concerned signatories of their ongoing petition, to the executive board (EB). ‘We have been compelled to collectively break ties and take our academic responsibility due to the fact that you, as the CvB, have decided to continue to collaborate with institutions that are complicit in a violation of international law and basic academic ethics principles,’ wrote letter senders Mark Vicol (SSG), Joost Jongerden (SSG), Esther Marijnen (SSG), David Katzin (PSG) and Livio Carlucci (AFSG).
At the beginning of this year, the group of employees distributed an ongoing petition entitled “not in our name”. This has now been signed nearly four hundred times by employees from across the organization and remains open to new signatories.
Ethics advisory committee
‘The violence is escalating and more and more experts are emphasizing that it is indeed genocide or genocidal violence’, Joost Jongerden says. ‘When there is a possible genocide, we are obliged under international law to act, to prevent it.’ The recent decisions by others to freeze or break university cooperation was the decisive reason for them to bring this petition to the attention of the EB.
The letter writers stress that WUR has not yet appointed an ethics committee to review institutional partnerships and collaborations. ‘Many universities in the Netherlands have reviewed their relationship with Israeli institutions. Of the 14 Dutch universities with ties with Israeli institutions, only two have refused to assess their collaborations and partnerships – WUR is one of these two. The refusal to even assess ties based on ethical and human rights principles is contrary to WUR’s mission to “improve the quality of life”, and risks WUR’s reputation on the international stage.’
The student action group Wageningen For Palestine recently demanded an independent ethical advisory committee for Wageningen. The EB did not respond to this, the students said last Monday in a broadcast of EenVandaag about the cooperation of Dutch universities with Israel.
International law
‘Ethical committees at numerous other universities have all reached the same conclusion: Israeli institutions are complicit, and ties should be reconsidered or severed’, the letter reads. What is happening is genocide, they write.
‘Under international law, we are obligated to act. We sincerely urge you to reconsider your previous position. The time to act is now.’
Response board
A spokesperson told Resource that WUR understands and shares the deep concerns within the academic community about the human suffering in Gaza. ‘That suffering is indescribable and must stop. WUR consciously chooses to leave the possibility open of cooperating within our existing cooperation principles. This practice safeguards the academic freedom and independence that are the foundation of science at WUR. The board remains open to dialogue and humanitarian initiatives.’
Translated using DeepL
