A massive protest is set to take place this Friday after a McMaster University administrator banned the phrase “Israeli Apartheid” from being used by student clubs.
According to a press release issued by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, the protest is a response to a decision by McMaster University’s provost and vice-president academic Ilene Busch-Vishniac, which CAIA called an “unprecedented attack on the right to academic freedom and the right to organize.”
“At McMaster, they have a very strong code of conduct to protect their students, many who complained and said they felt intimidated and harassed by terms,” said Tilley Shames, the associate director of Hillel of Greater Toronto. “While I recognize the right to freedom of speech on campus, it can’t be abused to intimidate and harass others.”
“Even if even if the term is outlawed, the discussion is going to happen anyway,” said Liisa Schofield, a volunteer and programming coordinator with the Ontario Public Interest Research Group at U of T.
UTSU has booked two buses to leave Hart House at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning with the additional support from CUPE and the OPIRG. York and Ryerson’s student unions will also send contingents to the protest.
In a movie posted to Google Video, a member of the group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at McMaster University accuses Busch-Vishniac, as a long-time supporter of Israel and the Zionist movements, of a conflict of interest in his decision.
