Fifty Jewish alumni return their diplomas to the UvA this Friday
This Friday, fifty very angry UvA alumni with a Jewish background will hand their diplomas back to Board president Edith Hooge, out of anger over the cancellation of the student exchange programme with Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The fifty alumni no longer wish to be associated “with a university that is selling out its core values,” according to a statement by UvA alumnus Ronny Naftaniel, former director of CIDI and former chairman of the Central Jewish Board. According to Naftaniel, they are “a diverse group of academics with a broad record of service”. The alumni include, in addition to Naftaniel himself, former Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal, former vice-president of the Supreme Court Ernst Numann and writer and freethinker of the year 2024 Keyvan Shahbazi.
Two weeks ago, the UvA announced that it would not be renewing the student exchange agreement with Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as a result of which no more student exchanges can take place. Rector magnificus Peter Paul Verbeek said that with this exchange there is a “risk” that UvA students who would participate in the exchange would come into contact with human rights violations “or end up in an environment where academic freedom is insufficiently honoured”.
Discrimination
The Jewish alumni find this a ridiculous argument and speak of “false accusations made under pressure from activists”. They also “strongly criticise” the UvA for taking this step without informing the Hebrew University. “Proper academic relationships should be based on the exchange of information and finding the truth. The Hebrew University is held in very high academic regard; you should be proud of a collaboration such as this. The UvA’s demand that the Hebrew University distances itself from the Gaza war is not made of any other university in a war zone. We see this as discrimination. The degree certificate is no longer a symbol of pride. That is why we are renouncing it.”
According to a spokesperson of the UvA, the alumni will be received by the chair of the board, Edith Hooge, at 12 noon on Friday in the hall of building A of the REC, where they will ‘hand in’ their diplomas. To be clear: this does not mean that the alumni will also be handing in their academic titles. After the reception, a smaller delegation of the group of alumni will have a private meeting with Hooge.
The pro-Palestinian demonstrators have announced through Martijn Dekker that they do not foresee a demonstration for the time being. “But maybe we can still make our voice heard in a fun way.” He calls the alumni action “a pathetic” display.
Update 26 March: A spokesperson of the UvA has announced that the UvA intends to enter into a new partnership with Hebrew University. ‘The UvA will therefore continue to discuss how we can do this, taking into account the advice of our third-party cooperation committee.’
