Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) Comhairle voted in favour of a motion to officially condemn Dual BA Programme between Trinity and Columbia University at first Comhairle today. The proposal was brought forward by current Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) chair Harry Johnston who admitted that, while the motion did not represent an end to the Programme, that it was a “beginning of a wider campaign”. Johnston also said that the goal was for the Dual BA Programme “to end.”
In a statement to The University Times, Johnston said the following: “This motion is designed to protect the welfare of Trinity students, while also respecting students who wish to complete the Dual BA Programme. As the Student Union, the welfare of our students as well as their rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression. We have an obligation to speak up when our students are attacked.”
Speaking in conjunction with SU Education Officer Buster Whaley, Johnston also said the following: “Myself and Buster have been reached out to by Dual BA students… protesting in favour of Palestine who have been in receipt of extreme punishment”.
Johnston went on to list multi-year suspension, expulsion, and deportation as consequences Dual BA students face due to their protest in favour of Palestine.
“From a welfare point of view the Student Union should (not accept) this treatment…A number of students having their degrees stripped from them for engaging in peaceful protest.”
Speaking for and against the motion were multiple American students. One student said that “the Student Union is meant to represent students” as opposed to strictly BDS goals. Another student stated they were worried “that voting to end the Dual BA will strongly limit Trinity’s international outreach”.
Whaley, speaking in favour, cited that students who were punished for protesting Palestine would at times not receive their Columbia nor their Trinity degrees, tying the College in with Columbia’s “unjust” punishment of students.
The motion passed favourably after a motion to move to a vote.
Additional reporting by Charlie Swan, Anna Domownik, Henry Brown, and Eva Lenihan
