'UTwente we see you', is what can be read in red on stickers on all the windows on the right side of the Vleugel. Behind the text is a person with the Israeli flag who shears off his UT mask. On lampposts next to the building where the Executive Board is housed, there is an accompanying text, in which the protest group explains why, according to them, the UT 'directly supports institutions that contribute to the apartheid regime and the genocide in Gaza'. Thales is also criticised: the high-tech company from Hengelo 'is complicit in war crimes in numerous countries'.
Academic freedom
Rector Tom Veldkamp already addressed the protest group's demands in May. 'These are requirements that we cannot meet. You might also wonder whether a university is the right place for protest that largely revolves around politics. I share the idea that you have to take a critical look at who you work with, but by excluding someone you can be sure that you are not solving anything. This is about academic freedom. As rector, I'm not going to decide who our scientists do or don't work with, that's up to them.'
Before the summer holidays, the protest group had already made itself heard several times. In June, the Vleugel was already occupied by a modest delegation, Enschede Students for Palestine interrupted the Dies Natalis a month earlier and a handful of activists walked daily marches.
