Hold the Boston University Administration Accountable

Boston University’s recent statement on the violence unfolding in Gaza grossly misrepresents the unjust colonial system that is violently enforced on Palestinians, as well as completely disregards Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza. The statement released by Kenneth Freeman, Boston University’s Interim President, and Kenneth Lutchen, University Provost & Chief Academic Officer Ad, in addition to those made by various deans of BU’s colleges, framed this issue as “the conflict in the Middle East,” which is a racist blanket statement that reduces the impact of the apartheid system and fails to address the problem at hand. It exposes the administration's complete and utter callousness towards the ethnic cleansing, occupation, and relentless oppression that Palestinians have suffered from since well before 1948.

BU’s statement completely undermines the severity of the situation as we are currently witnessing an ethnic cleansing and genocidal agenda being carried out in Gaza. The problems facing the Middle East are not merely psychological, and it's absolutely imperative that BU takes an active stand against the settler colonial state. We fear that in doing so we would place our community members at risk and put them in danger of police surveillance and violence. We deserve as much attention from our university as anyone else. We deserve safety, respect, and the ability to mourn our dead. If any altercations do occur, despite our careful steps to ensure the safety of our community members, we hold the BU administration accountable for unleashing this danger on their own students.

Therefore, we demand the following from the Boston University administration:

1. Interim President Kenneth W. Freeman must identify, condemn, and reject the anti-Palestinian racism, doxxing, and harassment that many BU students are facing.

2. Boston University must release a statement that recognizes the killings of innocent Palestinian civilians at the hands of Israel.

3. Boston University must disclose direct and indirect investment in companies complicit in genocide and human rights abuses towards Palestinians. Then, BU must divest all direct and indirect holdings in such corporations.

4. Boston University must end all programs and funded trips to the entirety of occupied Palestinian territory, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, that are complicit in the settler colonial violence against Palestinians, specifically its study abroad program to Haifa, Israel Uncovered trip, and Birthright trip.