HENRY BROADBENT (HE/HIM)
Last week Salient viewed documents, released under the Official Information Act, revealing a $47,532 investment by the Victoria University Foundation in Israeli Government bonds. The revelation has seen a surge of signatories on an open letter to the University released by Pōneke Student Justice for Palestine (SJP).
The letter demands VuW: divest from the Israeli state, implement a Boycott, Divest, Sanctions policy, and establish scholarships and fellowships for Palestinian students and academics—in the same vein as a 2022 scholarship established for Ukrainian academics.
Salient stands in full support of SJP, and the demands articulated in their letter. Though the ethical case for divestment has never been in question, international bodies are increasingly confirming what Palestinians have been telling them all along—the Israeli state is actively engaged in apartheid, illegal occupation, and genocide.
The evidence behind these claims is appalling in its detail and enormity. There is no room for doubt.
The University was quick to remove on-campus graffiti drawing attention to these investments. If it is truly committed to any of the principles it claims to hold dear, it will not be so eager to ignore the demands of its students.
Ayah Kayed, an SJP organiser, told Salient:
"It is vital that we have as many students as possible signing onto the open letter in order to demonstrate our power as a united student front to Te Herenga Waka faculty and to those on the VUW Foundation. This is especially important in the wake of both the recent ICJ ruling confirming that Israel is an apartheid state, and the news that the Foundation has close to $50,000 invested in Israeli government bonds. It's crucial that we as a student body make it known to these institutions that we will not accept our money being directly tied to apartheid and the genocide of the Palestinian people. Te Herenga Waka prides itself on being a globally-minded university—we have to challenge those in power to put their money where their mouth is, and only make investments that align with their principles."
As it stands, our university is far from a ‘critic and conscience of society’. Currently, it is falling in its ethical obligations, and actively investing in an illegal apartheid and genocide. The question is: will Te Herenga Waka do the bare minimum?
This is an extended version of an article that appears in print in Issue 18—Volume 87, under the same title.