College has issued a statement outlining its plans to address its ties with Israeli institutions following the end of the encampment by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) and Trinity Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (TCD BDS).
In a statement issued to Trinity News, College said it will divest from all Israeli companies active in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and that appear on the UN Blacklist by June.
One Israeli company on the College supplier list will continue to work with the College until March 2025 for “contractual reasons”.
College also further outlined plans to set up a taskforce to review its ties with Israel, including partnerships with Israeli institutions and student exchanges with Israeli universities.
The taskforce will comprise an external chair, student representatives, and staff.
“This taskforce will operate within the formal structures of the College as its recommendations will ultimately need to be made to relevant principal committees, which is in accordance with the academic governance of the university,” College said.
College also said the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group has agreed to receive a late submission from BDS protestors for the renaming of the former Berkeley Library.
On Saturday, protestors rebranded the library as the “Refaat Alareer Lib”, in honour of the Palestinian poet who died in November 2023.
College has also reserved places for eight scholars — six postgraduates and two undergraduates — from Palestine in collaboration with the Palestinian non-profit We Are Not Numbers (WANN).
All fees for these students have been waived and accommodation will be provided through the Sanctuary Fund.
The eight places reserved are in the Schools of Business, Law, Medicine, Languages, Literatures & Cultural Studies, Linguistic, Speech & Communication Sciences, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the International Foundation Programme.
College added that it is “committed” to “doing more” in regard to offering places to Palestinian students.
A College spokesperson said the €214,000 fine to TCDSU “did not form part of these discussions”, despite a statement from the union issued on Monday that they were “committed” to continuing the encampment until all demands were “met in full”, including rescinding the fine.
Speaking on the encampment, College affirmed it understands the “driving force” behind student activism on the matter and that it stands in “solidarity with the students in our horror at what is happening in Gaza”.
College also reaffirmed a statement it issued on May 1 supporting the International Court of Justice that “Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide”.
Today, College elaborated stating: “We abhor and condemn all violence and war … and the continuing ferocious and disproportionate onslaught in Gaza”.
“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the dehumanisation of its people is obscene,” it continued.
College declared “A real and lasting solution that respects the human rights of everyone needs to be found”.
These terms were accepted by protestors today following negotiations with the College, marking the end of the encampment that began on Friday evening.
