STELLIES ACADEMICS DENOUNCE ISRAEL

'Generations will judge institution's leadership harshly if it does not take a stand'

- NICOLA DANIELS

PRESSURE is mounting on Stellenbosch University (SU) to suspend all collaboration with Israeli universities where there was a risk of direct or indirect involvement in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

In a statement signed by 214 academics, the group noted that this had been a step taken by "other respected universities, including recently the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)".

"We agree with Annelien Bredenoord, President of the EUR Executive Board when she says that academic collaborations are normally based on academic freedom, but 'that freedom has limits when fundamental human rights are at stake'. We urge Stellenbosch University's leadership to officially and unequivocally add the university's voice to this world-wide call. We believe that future generations will judge our university and its leadership harshly if it does not take a stand on the outrageous acts being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza acts which, to borrow from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), should outrage the conscience of humanity," the academics stated.

The SU is the only university in the Western Cape that has not severed ties with Israeli universities. The university came short of taking up a strong position following a council meeting last year.

During a special meeting on April 30, Senate voted against a motion themed "Proposed resolution for Stellenbosch University Senate on the Genocide and Destruction of Scholarship and Education in Gaza".