Raging students at Edinburgh University have staged walkouts at several graduation ceremonies for the third year in a row.
Protestors have taken action at graduations for the School of History, Classics & Archaeology, the School of Literature, Languages and Culture, and the School of Social and Political Studies from July 1.
Edinburgh University’s Justice for Palestine Society (EUJPS) said walkouts are in solidarity with their demands to the university, “with the aim of demonstrating that the pro-Palestine and pro-divestment voice on campus is the majority opinion.”
EUJPS told Edinburgh Live they demand divestment “from companies which are complicit in the Israeli apartheid regime,” (including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, NVIDIA, and Keysight technologies).
On the topic of these investments, a university spokesperson told Edinburgh Live: “We have a sector-leading approach to responsible investment with robust procedures in place to ensure our policy reflects the values of our university. This includes a clear commitment to upholding human rights in the companies we invest in, and our investment managers follow that guidance.”
EUJPS also demands the university provide scholarships to Palestinian students wishing to study in Edinburgh and cut research ties and PhD program collaborations with Leonardo, a defence firm based in Edinburgh which provides targeting devices for F-35s used by Israel.
A politics graduate who chose to remain anonymous witnessed the walkouts at their graduation from the School of Social and Political Science. They said: “Peter Mathieson gave a speech at the beginning which was supposed to be congratulatory, but honestly focused more on anticipating student protest in the ceremony.”
The graduate added: “the staff didn’t even acknowledge anything and totally ignored any protest sign.” Dr Laura O’Hara, a lecturer at Edinburgh Medical School, shared that staff received an email prior to graduations instructing them of the “kind of conduct” expected, confirmed by the university.
An Edinburgh University spokesperson said: “We support the right to peaceful protest and we also have a duty to maintain a respectful and safe environment for all of our staff and students.”
Protests , meanwhile, have continued. The anonymous graduate told Edinburgh Live: “Students were cheering for their peers, for the walkout. I personally support it and wish I had joined, because the corruption, expenses scandals, and forced redundancies from higher administration of the uni have gone too far.”
Imaan, a recent history graduate who participated in a walkout at her graduation, told Edinburgh Live: “As a politics student I really feel that walking out is the least I can do – it would be doing a disservice to everything that my degree has taught me, and to the people of Palestine, to not show my solidarity or to not express that I don’t agree that the [University’s] investments.”
EUJPS commented: “Morale has been running high amongst the students, and continues to be very positive going into the next set of graduations this week.”
Staff members also expressed support. Dr O’Hara said: “I’m really proud of them. If you can’t do it when you’re young, when can you do it? There’s nothing sacrosanct about these graduation ceremonies.”
Imaan said: “The staff from SPS that I spoke to afterwards were very supportive of the walkouts.”
Not everyone shares this sentiment. Aleksandra Chybowska, who graduated on 6 July, stated: “I think there are better occasions, as this is a very important moment in many people’s lives.”
She continued: “Of course, it’s an important matter – people suffering is always important. It’s just that the world is full of suffering and we don’t want [it] to dim the light that comes from the precious happy moments.”
Graduations at the university will continue next week, with the possibility of more walkouts.