This past weekend, news broke in Flanders that Belgian universities have been placed on a blacklist in Florida. And indeed, several Dutch universities appear on that same list.

Who’s behind this blacklist?
The list comes from the State Board of Administration (SBA), a pension fund for the state of Florida. Its board consists of the governor, the attorney general, and the chief financial officer—roughly equivalent to a minister of finance.

What kind of blacklist is it?
It contains institutions and companies the pension fund refuses to work with because they are said to “boycott” Israel. As of this year, academic boycotts are also covered by that definition.

Which Dutch institutions are on it?
The universities of Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Nijmegen, Delft, Utrecht, Tilburg, and the University of Amsterdam are listed, as well as the Rietveld Academie and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Who else is on the list?
Companies such as Unilever appear alongside the governments of Scotland, Qatar, Kuwait, and several other countries. A large number of universities from various nations have recently been added.

What are the immediate consequences?
For now, not much is happening. As far as is known, this pension fund—which manages around 200 billion dollars—does not directly invest in Dutch higher education. However, it may invest in companies that collaborate with Dutch universities. In that case, its policy could have indirect effects.

Does this have anything to do with U.S. politics?
Florida is a Republican state, and the Republican Party has increasingly targeted education and science across the United States. Blacklisting universities fits into that trend. This list may just be the beginning.

What else could happen?
The Dutch magazine Computable paints a bleak picture: research in areas such as semiconductors, quantum computing, photonics, and artificial intelligence could be at risk. If other states follow suit, companies like Microsoft and Google might eventually be unable to provide services to higher education institutions in the Netherlands.

Should universities then avoid taking a stance against Israeli institutions?
One could argue that academic boycotts don’t benefit the scholarly community, which thrives on international collaboration. On the other hand, every university in Gaza has been destroyed, making cooperation there impossible. Moreover, an increasing number of experts accuse Israel of committing genocide. That’s why the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) recently took a public position on the matter.

Some Dutch universities aren’t on the list yet.
If the compilers dig deeper, more may follow. The University of Groningen recently suspended a research project that involved an Israeli professor who served as a reservist in Gaza.

And in higher professional education, only the Rietveld Academie seems to have been flagged.
In universities of applied sciences, collaboration with Israel tends to be less common. Still, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences has temporarily suspended student exchanges, and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague has severed ties with an Israeli art academy.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.