Our candidates
2. Rayan
Fransawi
Bachelor’s Human resource
Studies: People Management
“As a student at Tilburg University, I believe my responsibilities extend beyond simply pursuing my studies. The absence of any moral guidance in our decision making at Tilburg University has motivated me to run for University Council. I aim to challenge immoral policies at our university and enact pivotal changes, including ending the university’s complicity in unethical practices such as our complicity in Israeli genocide. With your vote, we can transform this institution in a truly impactful way.”
My focus is: Freedom of expression on campus
Why this is important to me: As a student here, I was told that Tilburg University prides itself on values like inclusivity, justice, and human rights. Yet it continues to maintain ties with Israeli institutions complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
This issue is personal to me as a Lebanese student, as the following universities we currently have ties with, Hebrew University, Reichman University, University of Haifa, Tel-Aviv University, Technion, and Bar-Ilan University, would refuse to accept me simply because of my nationality. Collaborations with institutions that discriminate against students based on identity undermine the very principles Tilburg claims to uphold.
Beyond exclusion, these universities play an active role in Israel’s military operations. They develop weapons, design military doctrines, subsidise education for soldiers involved in mass violence, and host propaganda operations that legitimize these atrocities.
By maintaining partnerships with them, Tilburg University implicates all of us in its immoral decisions. This is not just a symbolic association, our tuition, our degrees, and our academic reputations are tied to an institution that refuses to act on clear moral grounds.
How we want to achieve this:
Cut the exchange programs with Israeli universities
Do not send students and staff from Tilburg University to the Israeli partner universities, nor receive students and staff from the Israeli partners.
Cut research programs with Israeli universities
Completely sever research collaborations with academic partners in Israel.
“Israeli universities play an active role in Israel’s military operations. They develop weapons, design military doctrines, subsidise education for soldiers involved in mass violence, and host propaganda operations that legitimize these atrocities. ”