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Post by Students for Justice in Palestine Showing they were angry at UMSU Exec for not meeting with them.


Post by UMSU outlining why they cancelled the July 25 meeting



 
UMSU BOARD MEETING CANCELLED BECAUSE SOME BOARD MEMBERS EXPRESS CONCERNS FOR THEIR SAFETY---UMSU EXEC DAYS BEFORE HAD CANCELLED MEETING WITH STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE

by Rhonda Spivak, Aug 5, 2024

 

On July 25, a meeting of the Board of Directors of the University of Manitoba Students Union was cancelled at the very last minute due to “security concerns.”  A source said there were some 8 people, made up of Jewish and Palestinian students lined up to get into the meeting.

 

UMSU posted on Aug 5 that the Executive Team made the decision to cancel the meeting after they were contacted by "board members expressing concerns for their safety."  They did not elaborate further as to what the exact context was.

 

The WJR sent an inquiry to President Michael Benarroch and UM Media Relations asking what the nature of the security concerns were that caused the cancellation of the meeting but did not receive a direct reply to this question. 


The WJR wonders whether the security concerns were related in any way to the issue of anti-Palestinian racism and/or any demands by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) or their allies, after UMSU Exec had cancelled a meeting with SJP that had been set for July 22, three days before the UMSU Board meeting. The background is as follows:

 

This past spring, Palestinian students and their allies had demanded that UMSU adopt a definition of “anti-Palestinian racism” defined by the Canadian Arab Lawyers Association that unduly infringes free speech, arguably violates the Human Rights Code by discriminating against Jews/Zionists, and UM Respectful Work and Learning Association policies and would make it impossible to have a pro-Israel speaker on campus, and denial of the Nakba would run afoul of the definition. The proposed definition can be found at the end of this article.

 

 

On April 11, 2024 the Board of UMSU made a decision to indefinitely postpone motion 0604 on "anti-Palestinian racism" as defined by the Canadian Arab Lawyers Association. Instead UMSU decided to form an "ad hoc committee consisting of five anonymous members of the Board of Directors selected at random to “assume the responsibility of working in collaboration with interested parties to formulate a position that expresses UMSU's opposition to anti-Palestinian racism in the UMSU Position Statement Book". The UMSU Board of Directors also decided to recommend "that the ad hoc committee be struck again in the 2024-2025 Academic Year to advance the aforementioned mandate." The ad hoc committee was to report back by Dec 9, 2024

 

However, on May 7, 2024 the SJP and outside pro-Palestinian supporters and their allies began an illegal encampment which began putting pressure on UMSU Executive and Board to adopt the above definition of anti-Palestinian racism and passing same as soon as possible. On June 11, 2024 a pro-Palestinian motion was made at a special meeting to strike the ad hoc committee and make it formulate a recommendation by July 25, 2024, which was much sooner than the original date of Dec 9, 2024. This motion passed to the delight of SJP and its allies, notwithstanding it gave the ad hoc committee no reasonable time to consult with interested parties, including Jewish/Zionist students and staff. In my view, this may well have been an attempt to railroad through the definition.

 

At the scheduled July 25, 2024 meeting of the UMSU Board there was a motion to have the ad hoc committee issue its final report by Dec 9, 2024, the original date, recognizing that proper time was needed for a consultation process. Did this motion upset SJP and their allies, who feared it would pass ?

 

A view of posts made on Instagram on the pages of  SJP  U of M DecolonizeUManitoba and the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba (CPAM) appears to indicate SJP was ticked off with UMSU.

 

SJP was set to have a meeting with UMSU Exec on July 22, 2024, three days before the July 25 UMSU meeting. Did  SJP at this July 22 meeting wish to pressure UMSU to  recommend adopting the anti-Palestinian racism” definition proposed by the Canadian Arab Lawyers Association by July 25 ?  UMSU cancelled this July 22 meeting. SJP wrote in correspondence to UMSU, “This is disappointing to hear given the position that this student union has upheld when dealing with its Palestinian students. This response is another in a long line of acts of deferral.” SJP gave dates and times to reschedule the meeting


Subsequently,  SJP posted an  email SJP received  from the President of the UMSU Board which was sent “on behalf of the UMSU Executive Team”. The email to SJP stated “Given  the tone of your communications , conduct at meetings, and online treatment of the executive team, we have concluded that a meeting at this [point] would not be productive”

 

In response, SJP posted a rather aggressive post stating “The idea that we must fully support the decisions of the union and keep quiet when we were lied to and mistreated or else we will be denied the opportunity to participate in governance is appalling.”

 

SJP  complained that UMSU Executives “refused to meet with students for exercising their right to dissent.” To see the relevant instagram posts go to:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C90ZpQrS8g0/?igsh=MTl0eGtlaDAwZTV5bg== 

 

If in fact SJP or any of its allies has been in any way directly or indirectly bullying, intimidating, harassing UMSU Executive and/or Board Members  by demanding unreasonably that they adopt the definition of anti-Palestinian racism of the Canadian Arab Association Lawyers, without any or any adequate consultative process, the questions is what the UM administration to ensure there is no bullying, intimidating or harassment? The WJR posed this questions and received the following reply from UM Media Relations:

 

UMSU is an independent student union, and the university does not speak on its behalf. The student union has the authority to make decisions about its meetings, student group membership, and matters pertaining to its operations and governance, without university interference or input. 

 

The university has extensive supports and processes in place to help ensure a safe work and learning environment for all. [emphasis added]

 

-UM Administration

 

Note that the UM does not indicate in the answer above what specific supports it has in place to prevent UMSU Board Members from being intimidated/bullied/harassed throughout this process of arriving at a definition of anti-Palestinian racism definition, ensuring the ad hoc committee can do its work, or ensuring there will be no other cancellation of its meetings due to "security concerns." It is also not clear from UM’s answer above whether UM is taking the position that the extensive supports the UM has in place to ensure a safe environment apply to UMSU meetings, or whether UMSU alone is responsible for security at UMSU meetings.

 

On Aug 5, UMSU posted on Instagram that the UMSU Executive Team made the difficult decision to cancel the July 25  meeting one hour beforehand “since the [Executive ] Team was contacted by Board members expressing concerns for their safety within the meeting.” The post continued, “The decision to postpone was made with the intention of ensuring that the proper mechanisms were in place for dialogue to remain productive and that meeting is safe and respectful.” The meeting has now been rescheduled to take place Aug 14, with the same agenda as the July 25 cancelled meeting.

 

It is not clear what has changed to enable productive and safe dialogue to take place.

 

On a different but related note, the WJR has examined the terms of reference of the ad-hoc committee regarding the definition of anti-Palestinian racism. 

 

In my view the are three matters that ought to be added to the terms of reference as follows:

 

1.-ensure that any definition of anti-Palestinian racism works harmoniously with other anti-discrimination policies, including those concerning discrimination concerning other faiths and nationalities;

 

2.-ensure that the definition of anti-Palestinian racism takes adequate account of concerns about free intellectual inquiry, academic freedom and free expression.

 

3.-since the proposed anti-Palestinian racism motion definition 0597 expressly refers to antisemitism (and Jews are therefore the only ones singled out), a representative of  Hillel and a representative of Students Supporting Israel ought to be on the ad-hoc committee.

 

The definition of anti-Palestinian racism at issue states:

Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism takes various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathizer or opposed to democratic values.

 
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Rhonda Spivak, Editor

Publisher: Spivak's Jewish Review Ltd.


Opinions expressed in letters to the editor or articles by contributing writers are not necessarily endorsed by Winnipeg Jewish Review.