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May 6, 2024 – 10:21 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) The pro-Palestinian occupation continues at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). The students refused Monday evening to give in to the deadline set by the rectorate, which now demands an evacuation of the Géopolis building.
The UNIL management and the student collective failed to agree on Monday on the terms of a meeting. The first wanted to discuss in a select committee at the UNIL headquarters, while the second wanted to negotiate in the Géopolis hall, occupied since last Thursday and where hundreds of students and supporters (1,300 according to the collective) had gathered on Monday at the start of the evening.
Feeling “betrayed” by the management, the collective affirmed that the occupation would last as long as the management did not come to negotiate at Géopolis and did not provide “concrete responses” to its demands. He set a new meeting at the rectorate, Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., still in Géopolis.
Main claim dismissed
Management provided a written response to these demands on Monday afternoon. As requested, she listed the agreements (three in total) currently in force between UNIL and Israeli universities. But she refused to establish “an academic boycott”, as demanded by the students at the top of their demands.
UNIL assures that these three collaboration programs “do not contribute to the Israeli war effort” in the technological and economic fields, linked to the arms industry.
UNIL adds that these collaborations do not contravene its principles. Namely: “to offer an environment which promotes and guarantees the emergence and transmission of knowledge based on critical and rigorous methods, the confrontation of ideas, ethical reflection and respect for scientific ethics.”
The rectorate thus considers “that there is no reason to interrupt” its academic relations with Israel.
Evacuation request
UNIL management is now asking students to leave the premises. She says she wants to “avoid the need for police intervention”, but affirms that she can no longer authorize “the installation day and night of the collective in buildings designed for research and teaching activity.”
She says she is ready to provide “a space” allowing the collective to continue its action, during the opening hours of the buildings. This could only be done if the collective remains composed of members of UNIL, she specifies.
Collective decision
The students were to hold a new general assembly on Monday evening to discuss UNIL’s position. “Our demands are clear and we are committed to them,” noted a representative of the movement, specifying however that the follow-up to the mobilization would be taken in a “collective” manner.
The students say they are always open to dialogue and determined to continue their action in a peaceful manner. They affirm that the rectorate is “committed” to come and negotiate at Géopolis and still hope that it will do so. “If he does not come on Tuesday, he will be unworthy of the commitments he made to us,” said another spokesperson.
Support letter
Representatives of the collective also welcomed “a mobilization which is gaining momentum”, with more and more students flocking to the Géopolis hall as the days and nights go by.
This mobilization is not limited only to the student body. A letter of support, which has been circulating since the weekend, had gathered more than 200 signatures by Monday evening from professors, researchers and various members of UNIL staff.
Starting in mid-April from American campuses, the student movement against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has spread throughout the world. In Switzerland, only UNIL has so far experienced such mobilization.
