Amid genocide in Gaza, TU students protest HR’s transfer to pro-Israel company.
On Friday, October 3, Rachel Steward, the Chief Human Resources Officer, announced via email that The University of Tulsa would be transferring its HR, payroll, and talent management services from Paycom to Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM). While this transfer appeared harmless to most, several members and organizers of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), were alarmed. Oracle and its executives are well-known supporters of Israel. The company has an entire webpage dedicated to Israel, which includes a statement that reads “Oracle stands with Israel.” Oracle sends millions of dollars to the Israeli Occupation Forces , and several of its top executives remain fully committed to Israel both fiscally and ideologically. Larry Ellison, a co-founder and former CEO of Oracle, is the largest private donor to the IOF in the world.
Since 1948, Israel has engaged in ethnic cleansing, land dispossession and forced displacement of the Palestinian people. It has maintained a system of structural discrimination against non-Jewish residents. By occupying Palestine for 77 years, Israel has, and continues to, perpetuate a settler-colonial regime characterized by apartheid, segregation, and denial of self-determination for Palestinians. Over the last two years, Israel has waged a genocidal campaign in Gaza, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, including many children. IOF operations have destroyed hospitals and school systems and demolished or damaged 92% of homes in Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. Journalists continue to face targeting while reporting the atrocities.
Through their support for Israel, Oracle is complicit and actively facilitating the occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people. As TU students and advocates for justice, SJP believes that the university should not use a service that cares so little for human life and dignity. The steering committee of SJP sent a letter to the administration last week expressing concern over the transfer to Oracle and requesting them to cancel it. In response, we received an email from Interim President Rick Dickson. The letter made clear that while the administration appreciated our “thoughtful” message, they had no plans to reconsider the switch to Oracle. Interim President Dickson went on to say that the administration would “carefully monitor the actions of this and all vendors in case it is necessary to change course.”
This response leaves us with many troubling questions: what more does the administration need to witness before taking action? How is direct funding of genocide not enough? Are we going to ignore the deliberate destruction of an entire society? Are we prepared for our money to fund the mass murder of civilians? How many more families are we going to have to watch scream out in pain from the injuries caused by Israeli bombs before our university decides that this is enough? At what point will our university decide that doing business with such a vendor is no longer acceptable? Money is a powerful resource, and for our university’s money to go to a company that funds genocide is unacceptable.
If you care about justice and humanity, sign SJP’s petition and share it with your friends, colleagues and faculty. Send the administration an email and tell them that you refuse to leave a legacy of violence and oppression. Join SJP and the hundreds who have signed the petition in demanding that our university STOP this transfer to Oracle and instead use one of the equally efficient alternatives SJP provided them. Join the student movement and fight for a free Palestine.
