Letter to President Patterson

Below is a letter addressed to Trent University President, Bonnie Patterson, asking her to take an active stance against the hostilities in Gaza. We urge you to sign and forward this petition to President Patterson.

Sincerely,
Peterborough Coalition for Palestinian Solidarity (PCPS)


President Bonnie M. Patterson
Trent University
Suite 107, Bata Library
1600 West Bank Drive
Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8

Dear President Patterson,

On Monday 29 December 2008, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Gaza City Islamic University in the Gaza Strip, as part of its ongoing assault on the Palestinian people. The death toll has reached over one thousand with over four thousand wounded. This comes in addition to the killing of 40 students in an UNRWA run school in the Gaza Strip. Before the beginning of this offensive, Israel kept the Gaza Strip under siege since March 2006. As part of this siege, many Palestinian students were not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip to pursue higher education in academic institutions. They were not even allowed to travel to the West Bank, which is also part of the Palestinian territory under Israeli occupation since 1967.

Israel's deliberate attack on the Gaza City Islamic University is a violation of International Humanitarian Law and should be condemned as a war crime. The destruction of the university punishes students in Gaza by infringing on their right to freely pursue a higher education. The administration at Trent University has remained silent in light of these Israeli attacks against students. The university claims that it stands for academic freedom and the pursuit of a higher education, and therefore we demand that Trent University condemn the Israeli attacks against Palestinian academic institutions.

The autonomy of the university and academic freedom are values that Trent University cherishes most and stands behind unequivocally. Due to the systematic targeting of Palestinian students and universities by the Israeli army, the Trent Community calls on the university to join them in publicly condemning the attacks on universities and students, and issue a statement upholding the principles that Trent University stands behind with regard to Palestinian students and Palestinian academic institutions.

We also call on Trent University to show its solidarity with Gaza by respecting the call from the Palestinian Association of University Teachers in Gaza to sever institutional ties with Israeli academic institutions. Answering this call, which comes from behind the Israeli imposed siege, and from the ruins of the Islamic University, is the most symbolic act of solidarity that any university that values human life and that stands behind universal principles of peace and human dignity, could do.

Sincerely,