On 16th November, we received a reply from 1 out of the 3 senior managers that we emailed.

 

"Dear Apartheid off Campus

 

 

 

Thank you for your letter, the content of which the University notes, as we continue to consider all correspondence related to current issues in the Middle East. This topic is complex with competing perspectives. The University’s primary role is to support the wellbeing of our community and challenge racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia within it, whilst upholding freedom of expression and academic freedom.

 

 

 

In this vein, and to be genuinely helpful, I wanted to flag there is a racist, antisemitic comment posted on your petition by user mary shannon that you will probably wish to have moderated by Change.org.

 

 

Best wishes

[Senior manager's name]"

 

 

 

Their email can be seen here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qelIf8086BsRtbgZN2-wZdsoZTbK9RWY/view?usp=sharing

 

 

 

Our email response to the senior manager is as below:

 

 

 

"Dear [Senior manager],

 

Thank you for pointing out the comment on the petition page. Rest assured we had already reported it. We are glad we are on the same page: that respect comes first by the usage of words and must be swiftly followed by actions.

 

In this regard, we would like to know when we may receive an official response from you and [other 2 senior managers] addressing our concerns as listed in the letter: divestment of companies who violate human rights and academic freedom of speech.

 

We appreciate an official response from you by U.N's Palestine Solidarity Day on November 29th. We will coordinate activities for this day depending on the university's response.

 

Please note our name is Apartheid off Loughborough, as we are from Loughborough University.

 

Kind regards,

Apartheid off Loughborough"

 

 

 

You can see our email reply here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pTu9BBJi75gUJHrChYASyVRt5g3xb8o7/view?usp=sharing

 

In the meantime, we have witnessed a potentially indirect response to our campaign through the University flagging its "New guidance to help ensure our University partnerships are trusted and safe" in newsletters and internal news.

 

You can see the "guidance" here: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/internal/safer-partnerships/

 

You can see examples of internal communications about the safe partnership guidelines here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1idZRLL4QJcd9VgA19Qkw1NKdeO9OBk3A?usp=drive_link

 

 

 

We need an official and direct response from Loughborough University regarding our ties with Caterpillar, JCB and Rolls Royce.

 

 

 

If you are at Loughborough University, including the London campus, please get in touch with us. We can help advise on how to set up events or talks on campus to help flag awareness of our campaign. Please continue to share our petition widely in our communities as well.

 

Email: apartheidoffloughborough@gmail.com

 

Google Drive documentation of our email replies and university communications: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pTu9BBJi75gUJHrChYASyVRt5g3xb8o7/view?usp=sharing