The UCD President has responded to an encampment protest organised by its Students' Union which began on the grounds of the college this past weekend.

In an email sent to students and staff, Prof. Orla Feely said that the university has no formal investments in Israel and no partnerships with Israeli institutions, and that she acknowledges that deaths in Gaza “have caused shock and deep distress across the University community”.

She added that “The University supports the rights of UCD staff and students to peacefully protest within the law and in compliance with university policies”.

Prof. Feeley stated that while the college has no formal investments in Israel, it does participate in EU research projects as a member of multi-partner networks, and that UCD respects the academic freedom of researchers to continue their work in these projects.

 

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The message comes after students issued a list of demands to UCD, including that it divest from Israeli companies and sever ties with Israeli institutions, offer scholarships to Palestinian students and call for an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people.

UCDSU President Martha Ní Riada read the statement to the around fifty students within the encampment situated at the main lake of the South Dublin campus.

“I don't think there's much to be taken from that email,” she told the University Observer. “It's saying that the university is in a fine position, that they do a lot to support students and academics. But I think she hasn't read our demands properly, because there's a lot more in it than what's in her email.”

"It’s definitely still a fight, there's still a lot that we need to push for," she added "...That email, it doesn't show much of what the university is doing, and that's most of what they're doing.

"But there still are those academic ties, there's still a need to review those ties and cut those ties, and to commit to an anti-apartheid university and standing against genocide and put out a public statement. They haven't even recognised the state of Palestine; in all statements from the university, it only says ‘Israel’ and ‘Gaza’.”

Protests at UCD follow a similar encampment in Trinity College Dublin, which led higher ups at the college to commit to divesting from Israeli companies.