“UGent occupation will continue until demands are met”: students camp on UFO until rector responds | Ghent
--
The announced occupation of the UFO by Ghent Students for Palestine and End Fossil Ghent will take longer than expected. The students, several hundred activists strong in total, refuse to leave until the rector responds to their demands. The occupation was originally supposed to last three days.
Three days, that was the plan of the more than a hundred students who went to the UFO on Monday afternoon to literally pitch tents there. An occupation, like those underway on various university campuses in the United States. An action that came after “several attempts to get the Ghent University board to change course.” Ten weeks of sit-ins were to no avail. On Friday, the board of directors rejected a demand for transparency about ties with Israeli institutions and an academic boycott. The board also sealed the occupation.
Action plan
So it will continue now. “Our demands have not been met. We are the first to demand a time-bound action plan culminating in the cessation of all cooperation with Israeli institutions complicit in the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, at all levels, including multilateral cooperation. Our second demand is the publication of a time-bound action plan that results in effective and binding action by Ghent University to implement its 2030 transition plan. At the same time, this means that sustainability considerations must be central to budgetary and educational choices.”
A university should talk to its students instead of ignoring us. So we have no choice but to continue occupying it
Two demands that the rector and the board of directors ignored, and which Van de Walle did not discuss further. The latter went down the wrong way with the students. “We have asked him several times for a meeting, but he has not responded. We find it unacceptable that the board of Ghent University does not respond to our demands and does not enter into dialogue with us. A university should talk to its students instead of ignoring us. So we have no choice but to continue occupying,” he said.
Support
The students have already received support from hundreds of staff members, including around thirty members of the teaching staff. Climate activist and actor Nick Balthazar also passed by the students. The staffing is fairly quiet: stewards are provided and the atmosphere is friendly. Ghent University had not given permission for the occupation of the buildings, but allowed it to flourish. Ghent University also responded in this way during a previous occupation, of End Fossil Ghent.
VUB wants to end a collaboration project on AI with Israeli institutions
Hanna (19) has been protesting on her camping chair against Israeli cooperation with KU Leuven since last week: “’Hamas whore’, they called me” (+)
1,150 teachers take to the streets in Ostend to express dissatisfaction about Minister Weyts’ report: “It is not possible to cram 55 hours into a 38-hour week” (+)
This content contains cookies from social media or other external platforms. Because you have disabled these cookies, this content remains hidden. Accept cookies from social media to still display the content.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss anything from the stars.
