The pro-Palestinian protests that are taking place at universities and university colleges around the world have now also reached Karlstad.
On the night of Thursday 16 May, a group of protesters set up tents in the park next to the main entrance of Karlstad University. The vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancellor spoke to the protesters early on Thursday morning.
The university’s position regarding the protest on campus is as follows: As long as the authorities and the landowner allow the protesters to camp in the park, the university has no objections to their presence, provided they act in a peaceful manner, do not cause any damage, or obstruct or disrupt our activities. We strongly support the freedom of expression and believe that peaceful protests should be allowed in a democratic society. We want to emphasise that the university is and should be a place for everyone, and that everyone should be able to feel safe on our campus. The university does not accept any form of harassment of employees or students.
At the time of writing, the protesters have not presented any specific message to Karlstad University, but based on the global movement’s expressed demands for higher education institutions to take a stand in the ongoing conflict in Gaza through various types of statements and manifestations, the university’s position is as follows: The university represents academic freedom and institutional autonomy. We value the importance of freedom to search for knowledge among our researchers and students. Research and education must be conducted independently from politics and the university must not be influenced by pressure from the outside. It is not the university’s role to take a stand on foreign policy issues, and therefore the university’s executive management does not have the mandate to make statements on such matters.
Karlstad University does not have any current general collaboration agreements in the region.
