AUC students call for stricter boycotts
In parallel with the Gaza solidarity encampments taking place across several universities in the United States, AUC students and alumni held a protest last week, on April 22, in Tahrir Campus to call for a termination of the university’s contracts with AXA Insurance and HP Inc.
Two banners were also hung across campus, one reading “Boycott and Divest” and the other “AUC Funds Genocide”.
The Anthropology, Sociology, and Egyptology Association (ASE) has prepared various petitions reiterating the same message. The petition link was circulated by email and the ASE also distributed a flier listing the demands across campus.
The petition calls on the university to boycott AXA Insurance and HP Inc. as well as any other company that directly funds the Israeli occupation forces and following the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) attentively, along with providing financial transparency regarding the allocation of students’ tuition and having on-campus vendors to adhere to the boycott strictly.
“At ASE we made the petition when we saw what happened at Tahrir and what happened at Columbia University etc, and we thought that AUC has to abide by BDS […] it will make AUC a better place,” said Walid Zarrad, President of the ASE association and graduating anthropology senior.
On Monday, April 22, members of the AUC community took to the Ewart Hall stage in Tahrir campus to express their concerns, but were dispersed by campus security. Their demonstration went viral on social media, but the university has yet to issue an official statement regarding this occurrence.
Zarrad then further explained that the ASE is providing the AUC student movement a platform to voice their concerns over the Palestinian issue and carry out all the administrative and logistical technicalities to ensure these gatherings can take place.
When The Caravan reached out to the student body participating in the protests, they refused to respond as they were “not ready to be interviewed at this point.”
In hopes of extending these demands further, there was an attempt to hold a protest organized by ASE, but the university shut it down due to logistical complications.
“Ultimately the university’s response is to allow for the dialogue to occur for these students to express their concerns, share their views, convey their beliefs, and to also engage the greater community of AUC in the discussion and debate around these issues,” Yorgun Marcel, the dean of students at AUC, said in an exclusive interview with The Caravan.
He expressed that the issue is not the message that is being expressed, but rather in abiding by the procedures and measures that are put in place to ensure the success of these protests.
The association is planning on releasing a detailed document after the spring break that has information on HP Inc. and AXA insurance and their complicity and their contract with AUC, alongside with alternative solutions that could be taken into consideration.
