University’s Newest Offer

First of all, we’d like to stress that this is a PEACEFUL OCCUPATION and that we have neither ACCEPTED NOR REJECTED any of the conditions listed below, which were offered by the university late this afternoon.

In response to our demands and the second round of negotiations, the university has:

1. Edan Springs: They will look into the contract, as well as the repercussions of breaking such a contract. They are also investigating their standing with APUC and if they would be able to break the contract while remaining part of that organization. As a last resort, we are proposing a drastic decrease in the amount of water ordered from Edan Springs, perhaps even down to naught units. In addition, the uni is looking into installing more taps to cut down on bottled water consumption overall.

2. Military Funding: Chris Smith has started to look into the university’s contracts with BAE systems, and, according to our negotiators, has already called the company. There have been questions raised about whether we want to change that demand so as to not interfere with students’ research.

However, they are not opposed to having students on the ethics committee, but have asked whether it is possible that the ethics committee (which is already in existence) be accepted as ethical, so as to avoid taking all decisions on a case-by-case basis. We have neither accepted nor rejected this proposal.

Also, they are willing to give us their guidelines for the ethics committee, as well as make its workings more transparent.

3. Scholarships: They have rejected our demand for10 scholarships to Palestinian students on the basis that it is both affirmative action and positive discrimination. They are willing to create a scholarship fund for students from conflict zones, but this would not guarantee any Palestinian students received scholarships. They also want to take the best qualified from any conflict area, and not the most needy. We have neither accepted nor rejected this idea.

4. The DEC Appeal: The university refuses to post the DEC’s appeal for aid in the Gaza strip on the basis that it is preferring one cause over another; they stressed that the university is not a broadcast institution, and that this would create a precedent. They would like more specifics on where any aid would go, as well as what kind of aid, and what specifically is needed.

They said we may create our own publicity for this appeal and post it on the Wednesday announcements. They have agreed to discuss links with the Islamic University of Gaza, but warned that this may take years.

5. Medical appeal: The uni has stated that we do not have excesses of medical supplies as we are not a clinical institution. This point is also still up to negotiation, as are all the others.

Also, the uni has formally asked us to leave the space.

We politely responded “no.”

As we said , we’re here for the night, so feel free to pop in, though not after midnight, when we are required to secure the building.

Islamic Society Speaker at 7:00PM and Occupation 101 screening at 10:30PM

In addition, there will be a fire drill at 7AM. If you’d like to come say hello to us bright and early, we’ll be on the lawn in the quad.