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The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences invites you to a panel discussion exploring the role of our university in addressing political and societal challenges. This event has arisen out of ongoing conversations between members of the faculty board and students that critically responded to the university's actions regarding student-led protests at the university last May and June. As institutions dedicated to knowledge and dialogue, universities increasingly find themselves at the centre of debates about their responsibilities in times of conflict and political turmoil.

This event brings together scholars from different departments within our faculty to reflect on how universities can develop policies that engage with geopolitical and national tensions while preserving academic freedom and institutional integrity. Three speakers will offer short lectures based on their expertise, followed by a moderated panel discussion. Central to the conversation is the question: How can the university formulate policies that respond to geopolitical crises while upholding its democratic and social commitments?

The conversation will engage with recent debates surrounding academic collaborations in contested contexts, including international partnerships and their ethical and judicial implications. In this manner the topic of an academic boycott of Israeli universities will be discussed in a broader debate, reminding us of other contested contexts such as Russia and the United States.

To guide the main question, we will first ask ourselves how to define the university – what its role in the political system is, what values it promotes, and who gets favoured by the functioning of the university. Secondly, we will ask ourselves why the debate on an Israeli institutional boycott is so tense – how academic freedom is being attacked, and how the debate is linked to broader (colonial) politics. Thirdly and finally, we will ask ourselves how to move forward – how university policy is made, why decision-making has been slow and limited so far, and how we can collaborate while upholding our values.

By approaching these topics through a broader lens, the event aims to question the mission of the university as a place of critical thinking, a space that truly hosts diversity, and that facilitates decolonisation in the broadest sense of the term. We welcome all members of the faculty community to join in this discussion, which seeks pathways forward. So that our university can uphold the principles of academic freedom, responsibility and integrity in its practice.

Speakers