On March 24th, a motion was brought to Comhairle to call for the President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) to lobby College to remove companies non-compliant with Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) from the Preferred Supplier List. The motion was proposed by Postgraduate School Convenor Ruaidhrí Campion and seconded by Education Officer Buster Whaley.
The College’s Preferred Supplier List is the only available source of laboratory equipment, IT services, and office supplies for the College staff and research students, such as PhD researchers, Masters researchers and Admin staff. The motion notes that Dell Computers, one of the priority targets of the BDS Movement due to its significant ties with Israel, is the current preferred supplier for laptops and PCs in the College. The Intel Corporation, another one of primary targets of BDS, is also the manufacturer of computer processors for all laptops and desktops available to purchase in College.
The motion calls for the President of TCDSU and TCD BDS Chair to review the preferred supplier list for non-BDS compliant companies and remove such companies from the preferred supplier list. The removal of non-BDS compliant companies is in line with the TCDSU’s long term policy of support for the BDS Movement. The motion further mandates that where a total removal is impossible, the President is to lobby for the inclusion of alternative BDS-compliant companies.
The proposer of the motion, Ruaidhrí Campion, stated that due to the support from Trinity, Dell Computers are currently earning roughly 1.9 million euro. Multiple speakers asked questions concerning the motion, such as what would be the BDS-compliant suppliers proposed by Campion, to which he stated that this question ought to be directed towards the BDS Chair, Harry Johnston. Another speaker asked whether this policy would have an impact on current students in need of College supplied electronics. Campion expressed his hope for this to not be the case, and that “we will hopefully have the option to acquire non-Dell computers.
Procedural motion B to sum up and vote was then put to a vote and passed. The motion was held to vote in Comhairle and passed with a majority.
