BY LUC SELS We should now focus our attention on the question what KU Leuven can do for students, researchers and universities in the Palestinian occupied territories. When our university was struck by war in the past, it was able to recover because of international solidarity. Now it is our turn to take a leading role and take some concrete steps for support.

Rector Luc Sels conveyed this message to all colleagues on behalf of the Executive Board of KU Leuven.

Dear colleague,

The tragedy in Gaza leaves no one indifferent. The number of victims continues to rise. The humanitarian situation is truly dramatic. It’s therefore crucial that the border crossing points are opened and remain open for humanitarian aid, and that Israel immediately complies with the measures imposed by the International Court of Justice.

We should now focus our attention on the question what KU Leuven can do for students, researchers and universities in the Palestinian occupied territories. When our university was struck by war in the past, it was able to recover because of international solidarity. Now it is our turn to take a leading role and take some concrete steps for support.

Priority actions

Funding for trauma support. Frequent consultation with Professor Hassan Abujarad, President of Gaza University and others has led to the conclusion that financial or material support is not helpful at this stage. Professor Hassan Abujarad mainly asks for help in the development of a comprehensive psychosocial support and trauma counselling system, as a necessary step towards preparing the (academic) staff members and students for education again, when the time is right. We will therefore initially use our resources to support psychosocial and trauma counselling for professors, staff members and students.

We call on everyone in and outside KU Leuven to strengthen the KU Leuven Emergency Fund to give us the necessary resources to support the development of this trauma counselling system. KU Leuven’s Executive Board provides an initial budget. We are looking into which partner universities want to join this initiative. You can also help by sharing this call with your network. We also ask researchers, staff members and departments who want to help by sharing their expertise to contact the globalresponse@kuleuven.be.

We will continue the conversation with contacts in Gaza and the international Palestinian community to further refine this initiative. We will also include relevant humanitarian organisations in these conversations, because we will need them if we want to have an impact in the field.

Scholars and students at risk. We increase the number of positions for researchers, teaching staff members and university staff members who need a temporary stay to be able to continue their work or studies. This will allow us to strengthen our efforts in the context of  projects like Scholars-at-Risk. We use these resources for researchers and university staff members from all crisis areas, but, given the magnitude of the tragedy in Gaza, we ensure the necessary space for Palestinian colleagues.

For this initiative, we use resources from the KU Leuven Emergency Fund as well. We are also making an inventory of the options that our funds for research and global development provide. Together with other Flemish universities and university colleges, we are submitting an application to the Flemish Government for the development of a grant programme for students at risk.

If you want to make a commitment to temporarily employ a Palestinian colleague in research, administration or support, when the time is right, you can contact globalresponse@kuleuven.be. If there is a potential match with a colleague at risk, employment options will be considered, tailored to each unique situation. The focus is on temporary positions, to prevent a permanent brain drain from the Palestinian territories, but, at the same time, we want to be able to provide researchers, staff members and students with a safe haven, giving them some room to breathe.

Various initiatives are also working to provide online education for the students in Gaza. Most of these initiatives are still at an early stage and are difficult to implement due to the lack of a reliable internet connection in the area. We are exploring how we can make a contribution in this context.

A safe and inclusive work and learning environment

There are lively debates on what universities can or should do. So far, the debates have mainly focused on the question what kind of collaborations with Israeli knowledge institutions are still acceptable. KU Leuven has adopted a nuanced position about this topic. It is of crucial importance that we now mainly focus on preparing direct or indirect support for the recovery of the academic capacity in Gaza. 

At KU Leuven, we have students and colleagues from both communities and there is a multitude of perspectives and opinions. Let’s all contribute to ensuring that KU Leuven remains a safe space of openness, respect and freedom for all of us. Keep the conversation going and listen to each other. Polarisation and fanaticism should not gain the upper hand. An open and mindful dialogue is what unites us, with a mutual understanding for each other’s situation and with room for critical voices and other points of view. I want to thank everyone who makes sure that this dialogue, though lively at times, always remains respectful.