The University of Utah has partnered with a Zionist college in the occupied West Bank, known as Ariel University.

The U requests neutrality from its employees and offers neutrality as an institution of higher education. But supporting a school that’s on occupied land and benefits from the Palestinian genocide is not neutrality.

The U must terminate its partnership with Ariel College because of the school’s Israeli affiliation.

Ariel University

Ariel University, an Israeli school with 16,000 students, resides in the occupied West Bank. The West Bank, a Palestinian territory, has been occupied by Israeli forces since 1967.

The school prides itself on its “fresh perspective on contemporary Zionism.” But the backbone of the Palestinian genocide is Zionism. This means all Zionist identities and corporations are complicit.

Despite the school’s existence on seized land and its affiliation with Israel, the U signed a partnership agreement with Ariel University.

While the affiliation with Ariel could be beneficial for students, especially because both institutions are research-oriented, the U should not be affiliated with a school that is directly complicit in the Israel-led Palestinian genocide.

Complicity in a genocide is illegal under international law. Neutrality and silence in the face of Israel’s killing spree have resulted in the wrongful deaths of over 55,000 Palestinians. The U’s partnership with a Zionist school makes the U complicit in itself. Unfortunately, Ariel University isn’t the U’s only affiliation with Israel.

The U’s long Israeli history

One of the U’s direct ties with Israel comes from its study abroad program, which is affiliated with the University of Haifa. Students protested this connection, calling for the U to sever ties with the school. The U remains affiliated with the University of Haifa, but has paused applications to the Israel study abroad program, due to the ongoing genocide.

Another criticism comes from the U’s handful of Starbucks locations on campus. Starbucks is being boycotted by pro-Palestine activists because the company sued its workers’ union for hosting a pro-Palestinian protest.

The U also has endowments with companies that benefit from the war in Israel. One company the U partnered with, 47G, is affiliated with Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, who have both sold weapons to Israel in its Palestinian genocide.

Yet another Israeli affiliation comes from the U’s ties with Microsoft. The U has a partnership with Microsoft and offers Microsoft products to students and staff. Microsoft provides Israel’s military with technology used in the Palestinian genocide, which holds sensitive military information that the IDF uses in its attacks.

The U’s hypocritical neutrality training

The U released an annual compliance training for all U employees titled “The Power of Speech,” recommending that every employee of the U stay neutral about their political ideologies.

This annual training was promoted to train employees under University Guideline G1-007C, which adheres to HB 261 and Utah Code Section 53B-1-11.

These bills prohibit policies, practices, programs or training that promote differential treatment based on someone’s personal identity characteristics. This includes: race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin and gender identity.

The training mentioned that, “…state law prohibits the university from taking positions on topics like anti-racism, bias and critical race theory.”

The course begins by saying, “In this course, you will learn about the key differences between freedom of expression, academic freedom and political advocacy as required by state law.”

It goes on to speak about how the University tries to stay neutral on politics under Guideline G1-007C. “The Utah Board of Higher Education requires the university, as an institution, to remain neutral on political, social, or unsettled issues that are not directly related to our mission, role, research, or pedagogical objectives.”

The training asked employees to ensure they were not representing the University at all, as the only people who can make an official position on behalf of the University are “…the university president, senior vice presidents and their designees.”

In this training, the U asks its faculty and staff to avoid making political statements. Employees are being asked to remain complicit in the U’s Zionist affiliations.

I reached out to Heather King, the communication liaison between the U and the Daily Utah Chronicle. She provided a quote from this Salt Lake Tribune article.

After emphasizing the U’s neutrality, King said, “In fact, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, in December 2023, issued a warning to all of Utah’s colleges and universities… ‘I do not care what your position is on Israel and Palestine. I don’t,’ Cox said at the time. ‘… We don’t need our institutions to take a position on those things.'”

Neutrality in the face of a genocide is a crime, and supporting a genocidal force is not neutrality. The U is affiliated with Israel in many ways.

This is hypocritical of the U. If employees cannot make political statements affiliated with the U, the U should also refrain from making political actions.

The U should remove itself from all Israeli affiliation and begin supporting Palestinians who are suffering from genocide. Complicity in a genocide is a crime, and neutrality is complicity.

Being on the side of the perpetrator is a bigger evil, and that’s where the U stands. At the very least, the U needs to remove its affiliation with Ariel University to abide by state law.

If you can disregard the moral implications of being associated with the perpetrator of a genocide, the U is still going against state law in its partnership with Ariel University. Under HB 261 and Utah Code Section 53B-1-11, it is hypocritical of the U to be affiliated with Israel.

The University of Utah must sever its ties with Ariel University and remove itself from all Zionist affiliations.

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@evanvanleuven.bsky.social