Curtin camp remains as uni holds closed-door talks on pro-Palestinian demands
Two weeks into their occupation, students say they're determined to stay put.
Curtin's Vice-Chancellor has met with the Student Guild to discuss the demands of a pro-Palestinian encampment that has occupied the university's ceremonial green for the past two weeks.
The encampment, organised by the Guild alongside Students for Palestine WA and Friends of Palestine WA, has five demands, including that Curtin divest from weapons manufacturers, disclose all connections to companies associated with Israel, and publicly denounce "the ongoing genocide in Gaza".
Guild Vice President for Education Veronika Gobba told The Last Place on Earth the Guild had started "preliminary talks" with Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne about the encampment's demands.
"Nothing is currently confirmed," Gobba said. "It's still very early stages.
"It's pretty obvious that she doesn't like any of these [demands] and that they don't really want to take responsibility or open up to the fact that they play a hand in these atrocities, but we can see movement in the university. We can see other staff, lots of high-up staff, support us.
"We see already researchers in the university are actually looking critically at where their research is connected to because this is something that is concerning them, so we're seeing a lot of change and movement and pressure arising from staff at university, which is really great, and I really hope that is going to aid us in our negotiations with senior management and the Vice-Chancellor."
While the Vice-Chancellor has met with the Guild Council Executive, she has refused to meet with Students for Palestine representatives or visit the encampment.
“We have had hundreds of students come out to protest to demand that Curtin cut ties with companies that are complicit in genocide over the past two weeks, yet the Vice-Chancellor still hasn’t faced the encampment," said Students for Palestine spokesperson and Curtin student Ella Marchionda.
"Instead, she has only met behind closed doors and refused to cut any of the partnerships with pro-Israeli companies. We demand that she address us publicly."
More than 100 students and their supporters marched through the busy on-campus TL Robertson Library this afternoon, chanting: 'Disclose! Divest! We will not stop! We will not rest!'
Over the past two weeks, events held at the encampment site have included teach-ins, community meals, film screenings and craft activities.
A whiteboard on-site lists a daily schedule and various rules, including that antisemitism and other forms of discrimination are not tolerated.
Veronika Gobba said the encampment would continue until an agreement could be reached with the administration.
"We're aiming to try and get a Memorandum of Understanding written up between the university and the Guild," she said.
"What that Memorandum of Understanding looks like we're not sure yet, but we'll be taking it around to the camp and the organisations involved in this encampment and seeing what they like, and we'll be talking to the university and seeing if we can come to a middle ground, and that is when we will stop. We will stop when we have a signed agreement."
Though protesters at the Australian National University and Deakin University have reportedly been ordered off campus, the administration at Curtin has so far remained accommodating.
"They haven't tried to kick us off," said Gobba. "There are many things they definitely could do to try it, for instance, they haven't turned the sprinklers on that normally go on this grassy area. I assume realistically they don't want to look like they're kicking us off for PR reasons. I know that they definitely would like us gone, but we haven't faced some of the really atrocious battles that some other universities I've seen have faced."
Classes at Curtin finish for the semester at the end of next week. It remains to be seen whether students will continue their encampment throughout the exam period and beyond.
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Gerard Mazza
Gerard Mazza
