Brief summary of our approach to our ties with Israeli institutions
During the last couple of months, Leiden University has conducted many constructive discussions with the University Council and many other experts and groups from the academic community. Based on their input, the Executive board has decided to create a preliminary policy regarding our ties to Israeli Universities.
The essence of the steps we will take is as follows; details, as we discussed with Students for Palestine (SfP) and Leiden Scholars for Palestine (LSP), will follow tomorrow:
- Leiden University has institutional ties with Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University in the form of exchange programs; these are on hold.
- There are also eight joint EU funded projects, in which Leiden University researchers and individual researchers are taking part. Information about these ties is publicly available.
- Leiden University will install an ad hoc ethics committee, consistent of experts which will create an ethical framework based on which current and future institutional ties and joint research projects will be evaluated. The ethical framework will in any case assess human rights, and use of research for military purposes. The committee will consist of experts in relevant fields such as human rights and international law.
- In the short term, the ad hoc committee will assess all our current ties with Israeli institutions and joint research projects. Should the assessment of the committee indicate that our institutional partners are in breach of our ethical standards, we will break our institutional ties. The ad hoc committee will be followed up by an ethics committee which will assess all future institutional ties and research projects.
- We remain in close contact with students and staff about the steps we take. The University Council will be kept informed and will be able to provide input on the process.
- In our communication of tomorrow we will also provide more information on the topic of security measures within Wijnhaven.