A warning about civil liberties on Canadian university campuses

 

Increasing repression against pro-Palestine students is happening now—we must stop it

Canadian universities are rapidly becoming sites of repression rather than debate. Across the country, students protesting Israel’s assault on Gaza are facing suspensions, bans, police violence, and sweeping restrictions on speech and assembly—often imposed before any investigation has taken place. What is unfolding on campuses is not a series of isolated incidents, but a coordinated erosion of civil liberties that demands immediate public attention.

These patterns are readily visible in how universities have responded to pro-Palestinian students and organizers. McMaster University suspended a student group, Students for Palestinian Human Rights, for disrupting a board meeting, then banned three students from campus activities prior to their investigation concerning a pro-Palestine protest. At the University of British Columbia, the RCMP and campus security guards destroyed a sukkah erected by pro-Palestinian Jewish students, who sat praying in the rain.

This climate has also resulted in physical violence against students. At York University, one student was violently assaulted by a member of an extremist Zionist vigilante group. At two events involving Toronto Metropolitan University students, security guards used physical violence against protesters. In another, students were assaulted by an Israeli soldier who was hosted by a student group off-campus. This incident was followed by police arrests of five of the assaulted students.

This backlash has unfolded quietly but persistently. A recent article in Briarpatch surveyed protest policies at 17 universities with pro-Palestinian encampments. It found that nearly all campuses “either introduced or reinforced restrictions on the type or location of campus protests.” Many policies were so vague as to make these restrictions completely arbitrary. Other examples include Western University, which tried to implement a “no demo without permission” policy that was repealed. At the University of Toronto, “affixing signs, posters, or flyers (including the use of chalk, marker, paint, and projections) outside designated areas” has been designated as a form of vandalism. Most recently, faculty and students at Carleton University have been vigorously opposing an “Institutional Impartiality Policy” that bans departments and student groups from making public statements on political or social issues.  (more...)

A warning about civil liberties on Canadian university campuses