"I would've liked to see more academic debates"
"I think it's good that as a university community, we visibly empathize with what's happening in the world," says Charles van Leeuwen, lecturer of Literature and Art, who was interviewed before some of the activists went on a hunger strike. "We are not in an ivory tower. At the same time, I also see that this subject causes a lot of unrest and discomfort among people. So when I saw the tent camp, I also thought: tensive."
That said, he thinks it is "going very well. I myself experienced various occupations in the 1980s and participated in them, and I admire the behavior on both sides here. The students show a sense of responsibility and engage in conversation. But also a university president who sits in a room at FASoS to literally be close, a university council, and other staff members engaging in dialogue - that's good. What struck me, however, is that the demonstrators don't want to talk to the press. I think that's a missed opportunity. If you organize everything so well, then also set up a small press office. And I would have liked to see more academic debates and meetings included in their program."
Whether the UM should indeed cut ties with Israeli institutions as the activists demand, Van Leeuwen finds a "complex question to which I have no answer. There are people within the community with all kinds of different relationships with Israel. You can feel loyalty even in a complicated war situation. All these different opinions must be taken into account."
“Glad students are taking action”
"I am glad that the students are taking action and I wonder why it took so long," says an anonymous university lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. "I am also pleased with how the university has handled it so far. I am for open discussion, but it is also important to put pressure on colleagues in Israel who are against the war so that they make their voices heard more."
“Very mixed feelings and thoughts”
"I have very mixed feelings and thoughts about this," says Arie van der Lugt, an associate professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. "I fully support people drawing attention to the terrible things happening in Gaza. When I was that age, a little younger even, I took the bus to The Hague to protest against nuclear weapons. Being able to express yourself in that way is a great good." Although he finds a hunger strike "an extreme form of protest, you don't harm others with it. And what is happening in Gaza is so gruesome, it evokes so much anger, frustration, and pain: maybe that needs to go somewhere too."
However, he believes that open dialogue must continue to exist. "I think of what comes up in my critical thinking course: suspend your judgment for a moment, consider that if someone thinks very differently from you, they might have very good reasons for it. I worry that we immediately put someone with a slightly different opinion on the scaffold of X [formerly Twitter, ed.], after which very vile gut feelings come out. I would find it particularly unfortunate if that also happens within our community."
Precisely at a university, there should be room for nuance and other opinions, he believes. For that reason, he also does not want the UM to cut ties with Israeli institutions. "There are people there who went out to protest against the treatment of Palestinians long before October, against how they are treated as second-class citizens. If you cut ties, you also cut the lifeline with these people. That's why I was also against ruthlessly breaking ties with Russian institutions. Exclude only those that exclude, as my old mentor used to say."
“Occupations make dialogue more difficult”
Ruben Philipsen, a receptionist at UNS 40 in Randwyck, believes that "everyone is allowed to protest, but I am against any form of occupation, whether it is the occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel or the occupation of university buildings by students. You have to conduct the discussion about this war purely, with words and in mutual dialogue. Occupations make dialogue more difficult. After all, you have to be able to discuss demands; you can't just say, 'This is what I want, and I will stay here until it happens.'” Philipsen sympathizes with the students "but if you stand by the Palestinians, I think you should strive for dialogue in a different way. An academic setting should be peaceful and tolerant, no matter how much you disagree with each other."
Philipsen understands the students' demand but finds it also "one-sided": "The United States has just pledged to deliver one billion dollars worth of weapons to Israel, then you should also advocate for cutting ties with that country. I hope people realize that an occupation does not have to be necessary; that you can talk about what we as a university can do to act sincerely in this matter. If the outcome is, for example, that the ties should be frozen - not broken - then that is good."
And the hunger strike that is currently going on? "I think, following Mahatma Gandhi, it's a good means. You protest as you wish as long as you don't harm others. The question is whether you should do that on university grounds: then it becomes part of your occupation, and as I said, I find any form of occupation wrong. Also, I would always try all other ways first, I don't know if that has happened here or not. If you immediately resort to a hunger strike without having conducted a dialogue, that raises questions for me."
“Important they have space to express their opinion”
Skander Galand, assistant professor of international law, was at the tent camp Monday and considered it peaceful. And as long as it remains that way, people who say the students should be allowed to stay have a point, he adds. The protesters have "legitimate reasons to voice their opinions about what is happening in Gaza: the International Court of Justice says the UN Genocide Convention may be violated. It is important that they have the space to express that opinion, even if others think otherwise. That is what the right to demonstrate means".
Their demand - that the university sever all ties with Israeli institutions - is "complex”. Galand does understand the students' call for a full boycott - "that can be a political pressure tool" - but has not yet formed a definitive opinion himself. "I find that question difficult, don't have a conclusive opinion on it. However, I would not go to Israel for a conference at the moment, to show that I do not approve of what is happening."
He has not yet heard of the hunger strike at the time we speak to him. "Those are people's personal choices, putting their own health at risk. It doesn't detract from the legitimacy of the tent camp for me."
Cleo Freriks en Peter Doorakkers