Most of the Cloister of the UPV/EHU requests the suspension of any university relationship with Israel
- The initiative has been promoted by members of the UPV/EHU faculty, faculty researchers, students and staff of the TEKAZEL collective. Of the 240 members participating in the maximum representative body of the members of the UPV/EHU, they have received majority support.
The text that is distributed among 240 cloisters and signed by the majority, 128 people, states: "In the face of the Israeli genocide, the silence of the universities, and in our case the UPV/EHU, does not seem acceptable."
30,000 deaths, more than 40 per cent children, thousands missing, almost 100,000 injured, the majority of the population has destroyed their housing and, as the proponents of the initiative have recalled, the Gaza university system has been completely destroyed.
To cope with this, they consider that the "most effective contribution" the UPV/EHU community can make is to assume an active role "in the face of the silence it maintains" as an institution. Therefore, the majority of the members of the UPV/EHU Cloister have asked the UPV/EHU Board to have no relationship with the institutions, companies, universities and research centres of the State of Israel. This is the case of the BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – and the PACBI- Israeli Academy and the Cultural Boycott campaigns.
Although the competencies of the cloisters do not include decision-making, "as representatives of the community of the UPV/EHU" have made this request to the leadership of the UPV/EHU. The team led by Eva Ferreira García is now on track.
Ban on voting
The cloister is the highest representative body of the members of the University. It consists of the Rector General, the Secretary-General, the Manager and 240 members from all sectors of the University. The cloister does not have the competence to decide which institution the university can relate to, it is a decision of the management. That is why the promoter puts it as a request: the majority of the cloister has asked the management to interrupt any relationship with Israel.
In any event, the proponents of the initiative denounce that the Directorate has denied them the possibility of discussing and voting on the proposal at the Cloister’s meeting, so they have had to transfer it individually to the members of the Cloister to express their support. We are told that the most logical and correct thing would be for the meeting to discuss the issue, to be debated and to be voted on afterwards, but they have been denied that path and limited participation. At the meeting on 27 February the management team spent five minutes explaining the proposal, but then without debate or vote.
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