Students concerned about academic freedom

On Wednesday, October 3, an e-mail was sent to Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) from the University of Toronto informing the student group that the room bookings at OISE for their conference 3 days later had been cancelled. 

Orders came from the Office of Vice Provost two days before the conference was scheduled to begin.  The e-mail stated that they would not be able to hold their conferences in the university space for “purposes of security assessment.”  Golta Shahidi, an organizer for the conference ‘Standing Against Israeli Apartheid,’ explained that there is no current policy for security assessments, and one has never been conducted. 

Shahidi also stated that groups in the past have requested a policy be implemented on security assessments but one was never formulated.  Dialogue between the Office of Space Management and SAIA organizers broke down, and the Office of Vice Provost could not be reached by the organizers. 

SAIA has a long history with the U of T, including police surveillance and receiving bills for undercover police. 

Space for the open conference on Saturday was found at Trinity St. Paul’s Church down the street from OISE, and the conference continued as scheduled.  The church itself is wheelchair accessible, however the basement where the rooms for the workshops being held were not. One participant waited outside for the duration of the conference due to these circumstances.  “The university is making these events completely inaccessible to students” alleged Shahidi when addressing the changes at the start of the conference Saturday morning. 

The morning was a series of workshops and discussions focussed around activism on campuses ranging from a broad discussion of Israeli apartheid to a more comprehensive look at both media challenges and actions taken by administrations in Ontario to suppress public debate surrounding the issue on campuses. 

After lunch, a plenary session took place where three students spoke of the international ‘Right to Education’ campaign that began in Birzeit University in the West Bank city of Ramallah.  The campaign’s main objectives are to raise awareness about the inaccessibility of education to Palestinian students in occupied Palestine today and to engage in lobbying campaigns to criticize and con-front university administrations and state governments in their continual support of academic apartheid. 

David Naylor, the current president of the University of Toronto, recently travelled to visit Israeli universities.  Naylor never responded to U of T students’ request that he also visit Birzeit in the West Bank.  Currently at Birzeit it is illegal to organize on campus, and students are arrested if they become elected to their student union. 

In the e-mail sent to conference participants on the change of venue, it is clear the group feels that this was part of an ongoing campaign by the university specifically targeting Palestinian activists and silencing student organizers. 

There has been a similar development on university campuses across Ontario.  Last year, MacMaster University student groups were banned from using the term “Israeli Apartheid” in their campaign posters for public lectures and discussions.  In response, an open forum was held where the students were successful in gaining the right to continue to rally campaigns around the usage of the term. 

In the summer of 2007, 19 university presidents, including Trent’s Bonnie Patterson, condemned the British University and College Union decision to boycott Israeli Academic Apartheid.  Sheldon Levy, the president of Ryerson University, also spoke out against their decision.  The Ryerson Student Union passed a motion asking Levy to retract his statement, and, when he refused, the students demanded an open debate.  With the support of the administration, students at Ryerson held a public debate with a turnout of between 400 and 500 people from both the university and the community.  Administration was present, and, while the statement was not retracted, one conference participant on Saturday felt they had been successful in opening up public dialogue and debate. 

Other universities have not been instrumental in holding public forums or debates to address the growing concerns of racism and the right to an education on campuses.  They have systemically placed students and faculty to discuss these issues amongst themselves in a basement.

To learn more about the Right to Education campaign visit: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu