Prof’s Palestine Motions Target Of Alleged Hack And Legal Challenge

 

“It’s not only the suppression of pro-Palestinian speech; it’s the suppression of our academic freedom and our ability to stand in solidarity.”

First, a routine vote by members of a university faculty union was targeted by an apparent hack.

Then, the vote became the subject of a legal battle at the B.C. Supreme Court over the very purpose of a union.

It’s a lot of drama for two fairly standard motions that urged Simon Fraser University (SFU) to condemn Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s educational institutions and divest from weapons companies. But the protracted conflicts show just how high tensions have risen on Canadian campuses, and highlight the extent of the challenges faced by critics of Israel’s war on Gaza. 

“It’s not only the suppression of pro-Palestinian speech; it’s the suppression of our academic freedom and our ability to stand in solidarity” with Palestinians, whom many legal scholars believe are experiencing genocide, said Kendra Strauss, an SFU professor and labour studies program director who tabled one of the motions.

She said that the apparent hack and the legal challenge are part of a broader pattern at SFU where both staff and outside speakers have been silenced on the topic of Gaza.  (more...)

Prof’s Palestine Motions Target Of Alleged Hack And Legal Challenge