I want to update you following the occupation of University property and the resulting disruption for students and staff by a small protest group in the past fortnight.
I want to update you following the occupation of University property and the resulting disruption for students and staff by a small protest group in the past fortnight.
We recognise the deeply-held concerns about the current situation in Palestine and Lebanon, and have repeatedly stressed the importance of peaceful protest within the law. However, this latest occupation is unacceptable as it disrupts University life for our students and staff. It also undermines the important process which was agreed earlier this year to examine the University’s engagement with the defence industry.
The University Council has stood by the commitments made in the statement published in July 2024. It regards the Working Group, set up to explore the University’s relationship with the defence industry, as a crucial part of these commitments. We remain keen to move forward with this important process through dialogue, and want to ensure the full range of views on these complex and vital issues are represented. Student voices should be part of this process; but this dialogue cannot proceed while significant parts of the University are subjected to disruption and occupation.
Last week, the University Council asked representatives to speak to members of the Cambridge for Palestine student task force to reaffirm what was agreed this summer and the intention to move ahead with the Working Group. On Friday 29th November, the two Pro-Vice-Chancellors who personally led on the agreement with Cambridge for Palestine this summer did just that, conveying the Council’s wish to have members of the task force represented in the Working Group. They also relayed to them the Council’s decision that while an occupation continues, the Working Group will proceed without the two members nominated by this group. We remain willing to re-engage if the occupation ends.
On Saturday 30th November, the graduation day of nearly 600 students, with their families and friends, was disrupted due to the occupation of Senate House Yard. Thanks to the hard work of the team involved, and the goodwill and support of many others across the Collegiate University who were determined that students should not lose out, the ceremonies went ahead at Great St Mary’s Church. The protesters have since left Senate House Yard, but have stated that they will return.
The occupation of Greenwich House continues, with protesters having entered other parts of the building beyond the entrance space they initially occupied. As an employer, and as a trusted partner to many other external organisations, we must take our responsibilities for the information held there, much of which is confidential and/or sensitive, extremely seriously. The protesters have been asked to leave and have been notified of the action which could be taken if they continue to occupy the building.
The University will continue to emphasise the right to peaceful protest within the law, but will also uphold its duty to ensure that students and staff are allowed to carry out their activities without further disruption.
Emma Rampton
Registrary
The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.