Dr Refaat Alareer, who taught English literature at the Islamic University in Gaza, studied at UCL in 2007.
Dr Alareer was a poet, activist and UCL Alum, and was killed on the 7th of December in Gaza during an Israeli airstrike.
A vigil organised by UCL Palestine solidarity, a network of staff and students at UCL, was held on Wednesday afternoon.
Tributes were made to Dr Alareer with a reading of his last poem, ‘If I Must Die’.
The vigil heavily criticised the London University, UCL, after they refused to issue a statement regarding Dr Alareer’s death.
Dr Alareer completed his doctorate at University Putra Malaysia, and they have issued a statement – something UCL students are highlighting their University has still failed to do.
A UCL alumnus emailed Michael Spence, the university provost – and shared her email correspondence on X.
In the email he states that “Given that UCL has such a huge number of distinguished alumni, we do not issue statements about their deaths.”
A UCL spokesperson said: “We are working to support all those affected by this.”
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HeadlineUCL students angry over failure to acknowledge death of Palestinian alum
Short HeadlineUCL students angry over failure to acknowledge death of Palestinian alum
StandfirstUCL students are angry at the university over their failure to acknowledge the death of Dr Refaat Alareer.
Dr Refaat Alareer, who taught English literature at the Islamic University in Gaza, studied at UCL in 2007.
Dr Alareer was a poet, activist and UCL Alum, and was killed on the 7th of December in Gaza during an Israeli airstrike.
A vigil organised by UCL Palestine solidarity, a network of staff and students at UCL, was held on Wednesday afternoon.
Tributes were made to Dr Alareer with a reading of his last poem, ‘If I Must Die’.
The vigil heavily criticised the London University, UCL, after they refused to issue a statement regarding Dr Alareer’s death.
Dr Alareer completed his doctorate at University Putra Malaysia, and they have issued a statement – something UCL students are highlighting their University has still failed to do.
A UCL alumnus emailed Michael Spence, the university provost – and shared her email correspondence on X.
In the email he states that “Given that UCL has such a huge number of distinguished alumni, we do not issue statements about their deaths.”
A UCL spokesperson said: “We are working to support all those affected by this.”
