The preliminary advice issued by the Advisory Committee on Sensitive Collaborations (ACSC) has caused quite a stir. Chairman of the committee Ruard Ganzevoort answers the most important questions.
What is actually being frozen?
If there are new initiatives for cooperation with partners in Israel or Palestine, they are first frozen and submitted to the Advisory Committee on Sensitive Cooperation. On the basis of the ethical framework, the committee advises on the start of the collaboration.
Why are you also freezing partnerships with institutions in the Palestinian territories and in the Gaza Strip? In this way, we cannot participate in the reconstruction.
New initiatives for cooperation, for example in the context of reconstruction in Gaza, will take precedence over the examination of existing partnerships. It is important that the investigation is done carefully here as well, but we will do so as soon as possible.
Why are you freezing cooperation with Israel? Why are you succumbing to the pressure of the protests?
Cooperation with Israeli or Palestinian educational institutions is not completely and/or permanently frozen. If there are new initiatives for cooperation with partners in Israel or the Palestinian territories, they are first frozen and submitted to the Advisory Committee on Sensitive Cooperation. On the basis of the ethical framework, the committee assesses whether the collaboration can start.
It is important to emphasise that we are not freezing cooperation with one country or all the institutions in one country. On the contrary, we carefully examine on a case-by-case basis whether a collaboration fits within our ethical framework. This has nothing to do with succumbing to pressure, but everything to do with what we find important: knowing who you are working with and checking whether it fits with who you want to be as an organization.
Why are the existing partnerships not frozen?
The decision to continue with a partnership should be based on good information about that specific partner and not on a general judgement about a country. The committee is now taking the time to fully study each partnership and provide advice.
How long will it take for the existing partnerships to be assessed?
We expect to be assessing all ten partnerships over the next three months. If new initiatives emerge, the committee will give priority to them. This may mean that it will take longer to assess the existing cases.
Why do you have a commission specifically for Israel? Human rights have been violated in several other countries for a long time.
The advisory committee on sensitive partnerships was already in its incorporation before pro-Palestine protesters pitched their tents on the EUR campus. The committee is considering the question of whether institutional values and EUR integrity might be affected as a result of a (proposed) collaboration. As a result of these developments, cooperation with institutions in Israel and Palestine has now been taken up as the first case. It is conceivable that a subsequent case would involve collaborations with institutions in Hungary or, for example, China.
The committee is biased, there are only people in it who are pro-Palestine.
The ACSC consists of three permanent members and two ad hoc members. The members have been selected on the basis of their individual expertise, with a view to complementarity. Committee members do not represent specific interest groups or visions, but sit in a personal capacity. There are different personal views within the committee, but each member of the committee works from the professionalism that you can expect from a scientist, to establish the truth independently, including independent from personal opinions, and to use our ethical framework to test a partnership. The different disciplinary backgrounds and knowledge of the committee members guarantee a balanced advice to the Executive Board in which different perspectives come together.
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