Salt Lake City, UT – Over a dozen students and youth gathered on August 30 to launch a campaign against the University of Utah’s affiliation with the University of Haifa, an Israeli university with deep ties to the Israeli military and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

Utah Students for a Democratic Society hosted the event, which was itself a victory in the aftermath of arrests, intimidation and repression of the student and Palestinian movement in Utah during the last academic year.

The full extent of the University of Utah’s ties to Israel remains unknown, as the administration has declined to disclose its investments and partnership portfolio with Israel. However, beyond the academic partnership, the University of Utah is involved with the 47G research consortium, which includes companies supplying the Israeli military, such as Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

Additionally, the university maintains relationships with Chevron and Intel, two companies singled out by the Palestinian movement for their profiteering off stolen Palestinian land and for aiding the Israeli occupation. Student activists will work to uncover and end all these relationships as part of the campaign.

“It’s easy to sign up for a study abroad program when you don’t know where that money is going,” said Adrian Romero of Utah SDS. “A bachelor’s degree in Israel costs about as much as one full-time semester in the U.S. The last university in Palestine has been destroyed. Education is an international right, not a way to enable a genocide.”

The activists resolved to unite as many students, community members and other organizations as possible around the divestment campaign, which will begin during the fall semester.

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