University Board replies to demonstrators concerning the conflict in the Gaza Strip
University Board, which in turn has decided on a reply. You can read the letters in this article. Photo: Anders Berndt.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators have written a letter to the Uppsala University Board (the Consistory), as a follow-up to earlier correspondence with the Vice-Chancellor. The University Board has replied and made a statement endorsing the Vice-Chancellor’s management of the issue.
Academics for Palestine, which is demonstrating in support of Palestine in the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, sent a letter to the Uppsala University Board (the Consistory) on 30 May 2024.
The University Board has decided on a reply, which was sent to the organisation on 3 June 2024. The student representatives on the University Board did not participate in the board’s decision on its reply.
You can read the two letters below.
Reply and statement from the University Board
This letter and statement from the University Board was sent on 3 June 2024 by the board’s chair Anne Ramberg in response to a letter of 30 May 2024 from Academics for Palestine (see below):
"Dear students and staff of Uppsala University engaged in Academics for Palestine,
In my capacity as chair of the Uppsala University Consistory I confirm receipt of your e-mail below dated 30 May. Having carefully considered your letter the Consistory makes the following statement.
The Consistory fully endorses the Vice-Chancellor’s statements, his decisions and the measures taken in response to your submissions to the Vice-Chancellor and the leadership of the University.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Ramberg"
Letter from Academics for Palestine
Letter of 30 May 2024 from Academics for Palestine to the University Board. The letter also includes earlier correspondence between the organisation and the University:
"Dear members of the Uppsala University Board,
As students and staff of Uppsala University, we feel obliged to address you directly, since our calls for a public and honest dialogue with the University’s Management Team have gone without response.
We are deeply concerned by the lack of response and action on the part of the Vice Chancellor and the Management Team regarding the urgent and deteriorating situation of Palestinian academia and the Palestinian people in general at the hands of Israel's genocidal war effort. The avoidance, deflection and neglect of duties, as well as misunderstanding and misrepresentation of legal and ethical obligations and facts to the public are outlined in our last letter to the Vice Chancellor below, sent on the 23rd of May.
We are forwarding this communication to you, the Board members, in the hope that this will speed up the process of opening a public and genuinely engaged dialogue between the university's leadership and the very concerned members of the Uppsala University community.
We urge you to intervene and preserve the mission and reputation of our University. We are willing to contribute our expertise and labour on the matter in a public meeting regarding the demands presented in the letter below.
We thank you in advance for both your time and help!
Yours sincerely
Academics for Palestine
/…/"
Previous article on the correspondence
In the news article “Continuous contacts between the University Management and Academics for Palestine Uppsala”, published on 23 May 2024, you can read more about the correspondence between the organisation and Uppsala University.
Anders Berndt