U of T faculty members called into Dean’s office for supporting Palestine on social media

 

Professors express concern over the admin’s actions, the “Palestine exception” on campus

Over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the start of Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

Since then, some faculty members have been called into their respective deans’ offices for posts in support of Palestine. The Varsity spoke to three U of T professors to find out why some faculty are being called in.

A U of T professor — who requested to speak anonymously due to fear of retaliation — told The Varsity that they had been called in by a vice-dean, for retweeting an Instagram post by student coalition Tkarón:to Students in Solidarity with Palestine. 

“Naturally, it was an Instagram post that I retweeted and I just added some words to that post to say that the cracks are starting to reveal themselves,” said the professor. “And by that, I meant that there were many connections that the institution at the University of Toronto has with Israeli institutions, and [there’s] also work that is conducted by U of T faculty and students on illegally occupied land.”

The retweeted post spotlighted U of T’s Archaeology Center’s projects in Israel. The center’s website used to have an “Archaeology of Israel” page that was later removed. The page talked about “[building] connections between archaeologists at the University of Toronto and those across Israel” and highlighted field schools and residence opportunities for students and faculty in Israel.   (more...)

U of T faculty members called into Dean’s office for supporting Palestine on social media