Conferring ceremonies take place in UCC amid pro-Palestine protest

Members of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions campaign group chanted slogans as graduates and their families left the ceremony on Friday morning

Students in support of Palestine occupy the Main Quad at UCC. Picture: Dan Linehan

Conferring ceremonies have taken place at University College Cork amid ongoing protests by students over the war in Gaza.

Members of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) campaign group chanted slogans as graduates and their families left the ceremony on Friday morning, before returning to their encampment on the Main Quad.

Palestinian flags and leaflets were handed out and phrases including "Free Palestine" were written in chalk on the college grounds.

The names of 17-year-old teenagers killed in Gaza were also read out as a graduation in absentia was held by the BDS group. Empty chairs were set up with photographs of some of the deceased.

The pro-Palestine group have said they will remain in the encampment until their demands are met by the university. This week, UCC proposed 23 actions to the Student’s Union and the BDS group. These proposals were accepted and supported by the union on Thursday.

However, the BDS group said the offers were “insufficient and fail to achieve any points of our initial demands” and therefore they have “no intention to cease our advocacy”. 

“As of Thursday, we still have no dialogue with the university,” a spokesperson for the group, Ainsley-Kay Rucker told the Irish Examiner.

“We have made it clear what our demands are, why we think what they have done so far is insufficient and we have said if they are open to discussions, we are here for discussions.

“Thus far, the university has not approached us,” they added.

Members of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) campaign group chanted slogans as graduates and their families left the ceremony on Friday morning, before returning to their encampment on UCC's Main Quad. Picture Dan Linehan

Rucker said “immediate divestment is really important” by the university as well as cutting ties with Israeli institutions through the Horizon Group project.

UCC has committed to seeking internal approval and complete divestment from one fund that has Israeli stock. It also committed to reviewing all Horizon Europe grants to establish the level of engagement with Israeli partners and identify any support required by the principal investigator.

Rucker said the group believes the ethical framework which has been proposed will take “too long to put together and then is going to take too much work to implement.” 

“At that stage, we believe the university could have done far more in the meantime,” they said.

It has been 17 days since the pro-Palestine group set up their tents on campus. According to Rucker, there is a 24/7 presence on site with around 10 to 15 students staying overnight on a rotating basis.