Wednesday, June 25, the Assembly of the University of Geneva adopted a motion aimed at retracting the document of the scientific committee on the role of universities in public debate and making the disciplinary sanctions known, following a possible case of plagiarism in a previous version of this report. This motion raises real challenges in terms of scientific integrity. However, the Assembly elected the central question which had motivated the creation of this committee: the demand, emanating from the university community, that the university clearly takes a position on the situation in Gaza and its links with Israel.
In a context where the international community faces an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza, it is essential that academic institutions remain faithful to their fundamental principles and do not be diverted by internal issues. Intellectuals are responsible for paying their attention and commitment to the most serious violations of law, in particular when they imply, directly or indirectly, their own institutions or states. The situation in Gaza calls for an urgent mobilization of the academic world: populations are killed or hungry there, while Western states – including Switzerland, by its partnerships, its funding or its silence – bear a part of responsibility. In this context, giving priority to an internal affair of academic ethics, to the detriment of a major humanitarian disaster, constitutes a worrying ethical breach.
Last May, the University of Geneva announced the non-renewal of its strategic partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This decision, although important, does not exclude in any way other forms of institutional collaborations, in particular through programs such as Horizon Europe or joint projects between the Swiss National Fund and the Israel Science Foundation. The prudence observed by our university contrasts, for example, with the assertive position of the council of rectors of Belgian universities who, this week called the leaders of the European Union to suspend the association agreement between the latter and Israel. This text recalls that European treaties base any cooperation on respect for human rights and concludes that their systematic violation should logically lead to the suspension of the agreement. This call goes beyond the strictly university framework, in that it concerns a bilateral cooperation treaty structuring all political, economic, scientific and cultural relations between the EU and Israel.
Noam Chomsky, an eminent figure of contemporary critical thinking, recalls that “the responsibility of the intellectual is not an institutional function, but a moral obligation”. Inform the public, question power, act with integrity: these principles must guide academic institutions, especially when the facts are largely documented, as is the case today by UN agencies and NGOs. It is time for the University of Geneva to join the steps taken by its Belgian counterparts and publicly calls for the suspension of cooperation agreements between Switzerland and Israel, as long as massive human rights violations are continuing. Such a position would not be a militant act, but a imperative of ethical coherence with the values ​​inscribed in our charter: humanity, responsibility, truth.
* Julie Franck, teacher of teaching and research, Ur Shlonsky, honorary professor, Claire-Akiko Brisset, Professor, Corinne Charbonnel, Professor, Vista Eskandari, Assistant, Juan Mr. Falomir-Pichastor, Professor, Stéphane Paltani, Professor, Daniel Schaerer, Professor, Valeria Wagner, Teaching and Research Manager
