Following the motion passed at our autumn General Meeting we have continued to pursue the motion’s stated objectives. In particular, we have continued to push the University to re-assess its projects with potential links to breaches of international law, war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians, as it did with links to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. This request was refused. We asked as a general case what the bar would be for re-assessment where the ethical context had significantly changed since the project’s initial ethics approval. The University responded, emphasising legality as the important factor, implying that our “Ethics approvals” process is in fact simply a “legality checking” process. We will continue to challenge this, given the emphasis on ethical and moral implications embedded in our Ethical Policy Framework.
LUCU are planning an open meeting on the history of the Middle East conflict to help everyone better understand the context that has led us to the current situation.