Students for Justice in Palestine across the motu are continuing to pressure their universities to take political stances on the war on Palestine. Universities continue to defend their positions of “institutional neutrality” – a position students might have been willing to accept before Massive (Massey’s student mag) broke the news of Massey Uni’s financial links to Israel on June 20th.
Critic Te Ārohi spoke to Massive’s Editor Sammy Carter, who’s been following student protests in the capital all year and brought us up to speed.
The Massey protests began as small graffiti tags dotted around campus saying ‘Free Gaza’ – quickly covered by uni staff. “Massey admitted that it was their staff who sprayed over them, and students were pretty off about that,” said Sammy. Although it’s Massey’s policy to cover graffiti, Sammy said that the uni eventually apologised for doing so. “They said it’s their policy to cover up graffiti, but in this context they should have thought about what that says about them.”
The next bout of protest art came when Fine Arts students were allegedly given space in their building for them to paint whatever they wished. That’s exactly what they did. The red, green, black, and white protest art covered the entire stairwell. It included 12 of Palestine’s national birds (sunbirds) for every university destroyed in Gaza, and a sketch of the university’s namesake William Massey spewing blood. Sammy was present the night they painted: “It was a lot. Like I was not expecting it to be quite that intense.”
In a feature article titled ‘The pain that drips on quiet investment’ following the protest, Sammy wrote, “It is ugly and raw. Words I’d also use to describe genocide.” When Sammy arrived at 9am the following morning to catch the staff's reaction, she found the building locked – with cleaning crews covering up the art.
Before it was covered, sprawled on one wall was a quote from Massey, “As is appropriate for a university, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehoa Massey University has not taken a single position on this issue.” The students left a letter behind, addressed to the Bachelor of Fine Arts staff. It read, “There is nothing appropriate about ignoring the incomprehensible suffering of Palestinians [...] We want to know why you have said nothing.”
Earlier in the year, Critic Te Ārohi reported on an open letter that was penned by students, staff, and alumni asking for Otago University to issue a statement in solidarity with Palestine. The letter emphasised the destruction of universities in Gaza, saying, “Universities that fail to condemn these attacks can no longer claim to be genuinely committed to the pursuit of knowledge and any meaningful vision of a local and global scholarly community.”
Dunedin for Justice in Palestine coordinator and Otago alumni Rinad Tamimi, who has been integral to the group’s weekly rallies in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, told Critic at the time that she was “disappointed” in the Uni’s silence. National chair of the Palestinian Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA) John Minto echoed this: “In the 1930s Western institutions looked the other way to the looming genocide in Nazi Germany and the result was the Holocaust. The world said ‘never again’. We must say ‘never again’ today for Palestinians in Gaza.”
In Sammy’s feature article, she debates the stance of silence most universities have taken across the motu: “[...] [Massey] is yet to recognise Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. And the question lingers – is it their job to?” A poignant question.
A pivotal moment in Massey’s case was when, in response to Massive’s questions following the Fine Arts protest which included whether the university had financial links to Israel, a spokesperson said, “The Massey University Foundation has $64 million invested in managed funds. Of this, within the past three months, $7,105.00 is invested in Israeli Government Bonds.”
Massive released the explosive news the same day that Massey Uni’s Provost posted an article titled ‘Opinion: A right to remain silent?’ defending the uni’s refusal to take stances on political issues. “The timing was crazy because the post was flooded with comments from people who came from our account being like, ‘Israeli Government Bonds is not silence.’ Like that is not being neutral. That is taking a stance,” Sammy told Critic.
Some have questioned the consistency of universities’ refusal to take political stances, with Massey students arguing that universities do take political stances on issues such as Te Tiriti o Waitangi, climate change, and being Rainbow Tick certified, “wondering why it can show support for the queer community but not Palestinian students.”
Critic Te Ārohi put these questions to the University of Otago, which maintains a position of “institutional neutrality.” A spokesperson answered, “We are committed to supporting Palestinian students and staff. When it comes to international conflicts such as the situation in Gaza, the university is mindful of the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of our student body and wider community. Our stance is not indifference. We see our role as providing a safe and stimulating place of learning and dialogue for students from all walks of life, including those directly affected by such conflicts.”
Commenting further “about institutional neutrality, taking a position on an international geopolitical issue is quite different from Te Tiriti, where the University has specific obligations under the Education and Training Act; climate change, where the University has obligations relating to Government-mandated targets and LGBTQIA+, where the University has legal obligations in respect of equity and discrimination.”
As for Massey, the furthest that the university has gone in response to students’ pressure has been to issue a statement to Massive on July 10th condemning the act of genocide: “Massey University condemns violence of any nature.” Sammy said she’d overheard students walking past her office in Wellington talking about the news, commenting, “Great, Massey’s condemned genocide, but they’re not actually mentioning Palestine.”
Massey Students for Justice in Palestine – one branch of a national group of student activists – are demanding that the university divests its Israeli bonds. A letter sporting 300 signatures says, “We are demanding that you put your money where your mouth is.” A Massey Uni spokesperson said it’s not for the uni to comment on what the Foundation will do with its investments, since the Foundation is a separate legal entity.
In our neck of the woods, Dunedin’s branch, Otago Students for Justice in Palestine, are continuing to put pressure on the University of Otago. The group demands that universities declare and recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state; disclose and divest all direct partnerships with Israel (Otago Uni has none “to the best of our knowledge”); and denounce anti-semitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of discrimination.
Otago SJP are holding a ‘Stand Up for Palestine’ march from 3:30pm on Tuesday, July 30th, from the Union Lawn to the Clocktower to further their goals.