MUN pro-Palestine protesters disappointed after meeting with university president

Pro-Palestinianstudent activists and student union representatives at Memorial Universityleft a meeting Friday with school president Neil Bose and other university administratorsdisappointed by the university's refusal to negotiate, they said.

Nicolas Keough, director of external affairs for MUN'sstudents' union, said he was hoping to bargain with university administrationbut was givenno counter-proposals orcomments on their demands.

"It was very, very clear as soon as we got into the meeting that they were not interested in speaking with us," said Keough.

Activists with MUN Students for Palestine have been camping on thecampus in St. John's for a week, protesting the war in Gazaand demanding the university disclose itsinvestmentsand divest from companies with ties toIsrael.

Megan Scott,media liaison for MUN Students for Palestine, says she believes the university is trying to protect itsimage.

"They basically said,'We'll listen to your concerns, but we're not going to do anything about them,'" said Scott.

In a statement, Bose said the university has had conversations about their investments as a result of the protest.He saidheis open to hearing more from students about thetopic and that he is grateful for the importantdiscussions.

According to Bose, MUN's endowment funds, non-endowment fundsand pension funds are invested in pool accounts withinvestment management firms. MUN expects the investment firms to make environmental, social and governance considerations, he said.

Bose saidthe university does not use student tuition to make investments.

"Pension, endowed and non-endowed funds are funded by employee contributions and donations received," he said.

The demands

MUN Students for Palestine have four demands for the university:

• Full disclosure of the university's financial investments.
• Full divestment from arms manufacturing companies.
• Divestment from "any entities that sponsor or are complicit in Israeli occupation, apartheid and the current genocide in Gaza."
• That MUN "boycott and cut ties with all institutions and corporations complicit in Israeli war crimes, breaches of international law, and human rights violations across Palestine."

Protest organizers acknowledged they do not know much about MUN's financial investments but said that's partly because administration needs to be more up-front about them.

"We've been asking for transparency from the university administration for years," said Keough.

Similar student encampments have taken placeacross Canada and the United States. At McGill University in Montreal, students are also demanding disclosure and divestment,particularlydivestment fromLockheed Martin, a weapons manufacturer with direct ties to the Israel Defence Forces.

The students' union said in a statement that Bose refused to acknowledge"the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people."

Keoughalso drew a comparison between the Palestinian divestment movementand the divestment movement to end South African apartheid in the 1980s.

According to Keough, in response, Bose suggestedthat divestment doesn't have any impact.

Yazan'sYard

The encampmentis located ona quad between the arts and administration building, science building and mathematics building.

It'snamed Yazan's Yardafter 10-year-oldYazan Kafarneh,who hadcerebral palsy and died of starvation andpneumoniain Rafahin March.

Organizers say the camp is growingand has been supported by community donations.

According to Scott, the encampment will continueuntil the university responds todemands.

"One thing we really want to get across to admin is there is no neutral stance on genocide,"Scott said.

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