Israel: president of Swiss universities rejects academic boycott
Pro-Palestinian students occupy part of the Geopolis building at the University of Lausanne on Friday.
Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott
Luciana Vaccaro, president of Swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities, is not in favour of an academic boycott of Israeli universities. In her view, it is dangerous to equate institutions with a government.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
“You can’t exclude a university because you don’t agree with the actions of a government,” Vaccaro told Swiss public television, RTS, on Friday, adding that she was speaking in a personal capacity about the demands of students at Lausanne’s universities. This means isolating institutions that are open to dialogue and that share our values.
The situation was different for Russian universities after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, she pointed out. However, the head of Swissuniversities made it clear that the University of Lausanne remained free.
Vaccaro stressed that universities were “like society”, which is currently experiencing “tensions” over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “We must do our best in the universities to maintain a healthy and safe situation for everyone,” she said.
Asked about her red lines, she cited “hate speech, violence and anti-Semitism”, as well as “any racist discourse that could exclude one party”.
Since Thursday, pro-Palestinian students have been mobilising at the University of Lausanne and a dozen of them spent the night in one of the buildings. Among the various demands made is the academic boycott of Israeli institutions. Contrary to what has happened in other universities, for example in the United States, during similar actions, the situation has not degenerated and is taking place peacefully.
External Content
Translated from French and Italian by DeepL/ts
More
More
Swiss universities gain a steady hand in uncertain times
This content was published on
Luciana Vaccaro will shortly take over the presidency of swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities. She has a full in-tray.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
Magnitsky case: How Switzerland failed to investigate Russian millions
What do you think Switzerland’s Alain Berset can bring to the Council of Europe?
The former interior minister is to become the first Swiss Secretary General of the Council of Europe – which issues should his five-year term focus on?
Initiative for Switzerland to back nuclear weapon ban launched
This content was published on
The Alliance for a Nuclear Weapons Ban has launched a popular initiative for Switzerland to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Swiss film director faces backlash over AI-written screenplay
This content was published on
Complaints from film fans over the use of AI has led Prince Charles Cinema in London to cancel the premiere of The Last Screenwriter.
Prices of certain cheap medicine to rise sharply in Switzerland
This content was published on
Consumers in Switzerland face higher prices for certain common medicine following a reform of the pricing system that came into force on July 1.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.