In a protracted and spirited debate, the Senate of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) 23 March voted to allow its formal relationship with Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in Israel to lapse on 1 April 2011.

This was one of two options put to the vote in the Senate, the second being to allow the formal relationship with BGU to continue and to develop bilateral relations with both BGU and Palestinian universities.
Sixty percent of the Senate (72 members present) voted to allow the Memorandum of Understanding with BGU to lapse, while the balance 40 percent (45 members present ) voted for bilateral agreements.
The Senate vote effectively upholds an earlier resolution that placed conditions on its continued relationships with BGU, among them the inclusion of Palestinian university partners.
Today’s Senate vote does not preclude individual academics from UJ, BGU or any Palestinian university from any academic collaboration. The Senate vote encourages academics at UJ, BGU and Palestinian universities to pursue research projects without formal institutional agreements.

Before the UJ Seante vote a petition urging UJ to sever links with BGU remarkably gathered more than 400 signatures of academics from all academic institutions in South Africa, including 9 vice chancellors and deputy vice chancellors. The petition was also supported by main trade unions in the country, including COSATU and NEHAWU.  Moreover, there was unprecedented mainstream media attention, in South Africa as well as internationally, to the facts of BGU’s complicity and the heavy moral burden placed on the shoulders of South African institutions, in particular, to end all forms of cooperation with any Israeli institution practicing apartheid.  In the end, views favorable to justice and upholding international law gained wide coverage and won the day.
http://www.ujpetition.com/

Compiled by Jan-Erik Gustafsson