The U of T administration stands accused of silencing pro-Palestine views after denying a Students Against Israeli Apartheid space request.
Last Wednesday, Liisa Schofield posted a provocative commentary on the alternative news website rabble.ca, accusing U of T’s senior administration of “repression, stifling of dissent and bureaucratic harassment.”
Schofield is the volunteering and programming coordinator at the Toronto chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, a collection of semi-independent social justice student groups including SAIA.
SAIA was planning a cross-Ontario conference, where business included Israeli Apartheid Week, for the first weekend of October. The event was to take place at OISE; when the request was denied, it happened just off-campus at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church.
Schofield obtained documents proving that U of T admin decided to cancel the event before the space request was made, after being alerted by a pro-Israeli group.
She claimed that U of T was pressured by lobbyists to cancel the conference and that the stated reasons for denying the space request were fabricated.
Although the denial letter said the booking was not made five days prior to the weekend event, the document was faxed the Sunday before.
“This whole thing has been taken out of context. It seems they’re orchestrating outlash,” said U of T president David Naylor. “We’ve followed proper procedure.”
The documents, released under the Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, consist of 250 pages of emails among U of T admin during the week before the space denial was issued.
Schofield requested through FIPPA any communication pertaining to the conference, suspecting admin of being unfair.
“I have seen a consistent pattern of any space requests that are submitted for events pertaining to the issue … being singled out by the bureaucracy,” said Schofield, who claimed that such requests can take twice as long to process.
Jim Delaney, director of the office of the Vice-Provost, stresses it was a matter of procedure.
“They gave us incorrect information about the event,” said Delaney. “There aren’t many reasons for denying booking requests, unless a group doesn’t follow procedure.”
Naylor agreed.
“The group is not following standard procedure. A few weeks ago, an event at OISE was supposed to be open to the public when it was not.”
Naylor was referring to an OISE event in February last year for high school students opposing the Israeli government, where only students with a high school ID card were admitted. Accusations of brainwashing students were raised in national newspapers. The event was not organized by OPIRG.
Schofield questioned why senior admin was involved in the bookings.
“When we hear of any controversial event that’s high profile, we must be prudent in how we respond,” said Naylor, citing abortion protests as another controversy. “Administration getting involved is simple, given the profile of the issue.”
Talitha Kozak, president of U of T Students for Life, said she was unaware of any admin involvement in her club’s activities, and that her group has had no problems with space bookings for the past two years.
SAIA has previously butted heads with U of T admin. In Nov. 2007, the group successfully contested a bill for undercover police officers’ presence at an International Apartheid Week event featuring high-profile speakers. Campus Police regularly check booked spaces on campus and send officers, at the expense of event operators, if they deem it necessary.
Naylor has described IAW as “the consistently worst week of a president’s life.” The event draws international media attention each year, mainly due to its name.
Schofield alleged that admin is siding with Israel after forming partnerships with Israeli universities.
“I don’t think we have a bias. Our interest is forging relationships with research-intensive universities, and there is massive growth in Israel. We try to avoid the politicization of academic issues, although it seems others don’t,” said Naylor, citing minimal criticism for ties to China despite its human rights record.
