The University of Otago’s student body is taking its position on businesses with ties to Israel out to the wider student public for feedback.
The Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) received two formal complaints about its decision to bar Domino’s Pizza from "Tent City" during O Week.
The OUSA adopted a Boycott Divest and Sanctions (BDS) position — a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments and economic sanctions against Israel.
The BDS official website did not list Domino’s Pizza among the companies to be boycotted but said it could be the target of "organic boycott campaigns, not initiated by the BDS movement".
OUSA president Liam White said the stance had not been formally adopted as policy — and now needed to be debated because of the issues surrounding the Domino’s incident.
Asked whether the OUSA had "jumped the gun" in implementing its stance, Mr White said it was a decision he inherited.
"Which is not me trying to pass the buck, because I was definitely around the table last year.
"I think we were pretty comfortable with the level of thought we’d given it with the executive supporting it and then also students supporting the commitment to peace at our AGM last year."
Mr White said the OUSA now wanted to take its proposals out to the student public.
"Once those two students reached out and said, ‘Hey, we have concerns that you haven’t followed the process’, we took that to heart and we listened to their feedback."
As a result the OUSA decided to review its decision.
Mr White said OUSA hoped to host public forums on what the BDS policy could mean and "what an ethical procurement or investment or operations policy could look like".
"We’re gathering that detail first to then go forward to them so we can ... frame the conversation in a really productive way with students today."
OUSA hoped to finish the consultation by July — by which stage, the association should have a clearer picture of what students wanted, he said.
He urged students to contact him.
The Dunedin branch of Domino’s was contacted for comment.
At the time of the barring of Domino’s from Tent City, a spokeswoman said "our local franchise partner is in the business of pizza, not politics.
"He intends to continue to support the students of Otago University, if not at this event, by supplying them with pizza vouchers, student discounts and employment applications."
