In May 2024, UNIL – like other university institutions in Switzerland and abroad – was the location for various events in support of the Palestinian cause. These events prompted a range of different reactions at the cantonal and national levels, not only within the UNIL community but also in the media and the political sphere, and on social media. The UNIL Rectorate feels that this is an appropriate moment to reiterate its position and provide information on the actions it has taken, in addition to several communications it has already published.
The suffering of the Palestinian people is a source of profound concern and indignation, as is the situation of the Israelis being held hostage. The number of people on both sides who have been killed, wounded or detained, or whose lives have been uprooted or thrown into disarray by the loss or disappearance of their loved ones, continues to increase every day. While emphasizing that it is not appropriate for it to take a stance in respect of the warring parties, UNIL wishes to express its deep consternation at the scale of destruction of educational institutions in Gaza. It shares the concern of the United Nations rapporteurs, whose communications tell of the destruction of all university buildings and the deaths or wounding of thousands of students and professors, with a devastating effect on the Palestinian university system.
In light of calls for a general boycott of Israeli university institutions in response to this situation, UNIL must reiterate that its primary mission is to offer its researchers and students in Switzerland an environment that fosters the emergence and transmission of knowledge based on critical, rigorous methods, the exchange of ideas, ethical reflection and compliance with professional academic standards. It can only do this by guaranteeing and defending academic freedom.
Against this background, the Rectorate considers that an immediate and general interruption of its relationships or those of its researchers with Israeli institutions or researchers would contravene academic freedom; it would also deprive researchers and students whose work would support a critical approach to the events taking place in the Gaza Strip of their resources.
Nonetheless, the Rectorate has no intention of shirking its duty of diligence. It has therefore undertaken to create an expert unit, which will assess collaborations with academic institutions in the context of armed conflict or other sensitive situations that present a high risk in terms of ethics, scientific integrity, respect for international law or academic freedom. It also encourages its researchers to take the utmost care in their academic collaborations in similar situations. Work has already begun with the Research Ethics Committee (CER-UNIL) office, as communicated on 28 May (https://news.unil.ch/display/1716894349472). The aim is for the new system to be up and running over the summer.
Moreover, UNIL has for several years been a member of the network Scholars at Risk, which aims to offer research trips to researchers whose life, freedom and well-being are threatened in their own country. UNIL calls on its researchers to use this mechanism to support their Palestinian colleagues.
Similarly, Palestinian students who may be coming to Switzerland to continue their studies because of impossible conditions at home may be entitled to the support and settling in measures developed at UNIL, provided they have been granted authorisation to stay in Switzerland.
Finally, the Rectorate is conscious of the numerous obstacles to any form of mobility facing members of Palestinian universities; accordingly, it plans to develop a programme of academic capacity-building in regions destroyed by the war, including support for academic exchange programmes and for the next generation of academics, doctoral programmes and other solutions.
The circulation of a report on the links between UNIL and Israeli institutions has also prompted numerous reactions. The Rectorate wishes to clarify that it had no involvement whatsoever in the production of this document. Although the information it contains on academic collaborations is in the public domain, the Rectorate reiterates its condemnation of the publication of the names of UNIL researchers in this document. It also deplores the fact that the authors of the report remain anonymous. The Rectorate will continue to offer its full support to the researchers concerned.
The UNIL Rectorate reiterates its awareness of the level of emotion that the situation in the Middle East may provoke, and the extent to which this impacts the positions of members of its community. It is also aware that the unrest caused on the campus, on social media and in the media has created anxiety or frustration among some members of the community, which it understands and deeply regrets. Accordingly, it invites anyone dealing with a difficult interpersonal situation on the UNIL campus (aggression, harassment, psychological abuse, discrimination, antisemitism or Islamophobia) to contact Help | UNIL, which is designed to protect the work and study environment at the university, and which can offer listening, advice and personalised support in complete confidentiality. Any wrongful actions or speeches reported will be examined and may be subject to an investigation.
The Rectorate invites every member of the UNIL community to show restraint and respect to help us to live together in these difficult and painful circumstances.