“Massey funds genocide”: Wellington campus graffitied for Open Day

On August 23rd, almost anywhere you looked on the Wellington campus you saw graffiti calling out the university for their neutrality on the war on Palestine.  

At the 9am Opening Ceremony, five students sat patiently among high schoolers before standing up chanting “Free Palestine” with a large banner at the front of the hall.   

This comes as students are yet to see the university take a stance on Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians.  

Massive revealed in June that the Massey University Foundation has invested $7,105 in Israeli Government Bonds.   

Five days after Open Day on August 28th, Wellington students were sent an email to remind them of the university rules and inform them that the graffiti would begin to be covered.  

In the email, Tere McGonagle-Daly, deputy vice-chancellor said that the paint-based protest art falls under non-academic misconduct in the Student Disciplinary Regulations and the Student Code of Conduct.  

He said, “The university reserves the right to refer these actions to Police and remove the protest art or statements.”  

He said protest art remained untouched on Open Days, with exceptions for protest art which included “offensive language or involved a personal attack on an individual”. 

Some of the graffiti had been covered, particularly those with the word 'genocide'.   

Printed signs were on display around campus stating that the university chose to leave messaging in place, and that they encourage free speech. 

Whiteboards with similar messaging had been displayed at the Manawatū Open Day on August 7th, after protest chalking was found scattered around campus.  

Student rep Romany Tasker-Poland took part in the Wellington Opening Ceremony protest. 

Going forward, she wanted the university to front questions about if they condemn the genocide of Palestinians, saying answers so far had been “vague and unconvincing”. 

“I don’t think neutral is the right stance to be taking here.” 

She felt the university was “inconsistent” when it came to freedom of speech and censoring student protest.   

She may have been referencing an incident in June when pro-Palestine protest art was painted over in the Wellington Fine Arts block.    

Tasker-Poland's concerns were sent to the university, along with questions about the word ‘genocide’ being covered. However, the university did not wish to comment.  

In July, a Massey spokesperson condemned the act of genocide itself. However, they did not recognise Israel’s attacks as genocide or Palestine as sovereign state as students have requested.  

They said, “Massey University condemns violence of any nature. Genocide is a heinous crime that violates the fundamental principles of humanity and justice.”