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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-female-staff-ucl-shave-hair-pressure-university-divest-israel">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">UK: Female staff at UCL shave their heads to pressure university to divest from Israel</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Areeb Ullah</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">May 15, 2024<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p><span>Female
staff at University College London are shaving the hair off their heads
to pressure the institution to divest from Israel, joining hundreds of
academics calling on the university to divest and boycott Israeli
universities. </span></p>
<p>Standing in front of students and staff, two female staff members
from UCL and an alumna shaved their heads on Wednesday in support of <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-palestinian-women-forced-shave-their-heads-due-water-shortage" target="_blank">Palestinian women</a> in Gaza forced to do the same because of no access to water. </p>
<p>May, a technician at UCL, was the first woman to shave her head in
front of a crowd of academics and staff gathered to commemorate Nakba
Day. </p>
<p>Speaking in front of hundreds of people, May, who declined to give
her full name, said she shaved her hair off to highlight the
“dehumanisation endured by Palestinian women in Gaza” and to pressure
UCL to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s war in Gaza. </p>
<p>“A woman forced to shave her head would be considered dehumanising in
almost any circumstance. But sadly, it is a single tiny drop in the
ocean of the unspeakable dehumanisation, violence and cruelty inflicted
on the Palestine people in front of our very eyes,” May told Middle East
Eye.</p>
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<p>“UCL is complicit by continuing to have shares in arms companies and
bank with Barclays who has increased their investment in companies
making money from this genocide.” </p>
<p>Elle, a lecturer at UCL, also shaved her hair off on Wednesday to
demand that the university end its research partnerships with Israeli
universities. </p>
<p>“I'm here because I have an ethical obligation that my work doesn't
contribute to denying them their dignity, knowledge, history, humanity,
or even their existence,” said Elle, who declined to give her surname.
“I am here because our liberation is bound up with each other.”</p>
<p>Elle added that her protest was inspired by other women who shaved
their heads outside parliament after reports emerged of Palestinian
women doing the same to avoid contracting scalp illnesses, as they are
unable to wash their hair due to continued displacement in Gaza. </p>
<p>Their protest comes as hundreds of academic staff at UCL joined calls
for an academic boycott of Israeli universities while protest
encampments continue to grow on university campuses across Britain. </p>
<p>Earlier this week, encampments emerged at King’s College London, the
London School of Economics, and Queen Mary University in East London. </p>
<p>UCL declined to comment on the protest when contacted by Middle East Eye.</p>
<h3>Cambridge encampment</h3>
<p>A pro-Palestine student campaign at the University of Cambridge has
escalated, with students occupying the lawn outside the university's
central management building on Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-uk-cambridge-oxford-students-launch-protest-encampments" target="_blank">campaign began</a> on
6 May, when around 100 students gathered on the lawn outside King's
College, one of Cambridge's constituent colleges, where they erected
tents and demanded the university commit to divesting from companies
involved in Israel's war on Gaza. </p>
<p>The organisers <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-uk-cambridge-oxford-students-launch-protest-encampments" target="_blank">told</a> Middle
East Eye previously they are demanding that the university discloses
all of its relationships with companies and institutions "complicit in
the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine".</p>
<p>They said they want the university to end all such relationships,
support Palestinian students and academics, and commit to protecting
academic freedom. </p>
<p>Now the campaign has moved into a new phase. On early Wednesday
morning, the protesters set up a new encampment on the lawn of
Cambridge's iconic Senate House after climbing over its surrounding
fences. </p>
<p>The building, which dates back to the 1720s, is the ceremonial centre
of the university. One graduation ceremony is set to take place there
on Friday and another on Saturday. The encampment threatens to disrupt
them both.</p>
<p>The protest's organisers, Cambridge for Palestine, said in a press
release on Wednesday morning that they provided the university's senior
administration with a deadline of 5pm on Tuesday 14 May to hold a
negotiation meeting. Instead, the administration opted to communicate
with the encampment through the Cambridge University Student Union. </p>
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