Jewish students in Manitoba and elsewhere in the country have been made to feel unsafe and uncomfortable by instructors and professors who have abused the podium. For instance, instructors and professors have taken advantage of lecture time to deploy political statements that are not relevant to course material. Does academic freedom include the right to abuse the academic podium? This past November, at the University of Winnipeg, English professors hosted a "teach-in" on Palestine. In some cases, students have been punished by professors who have given them a poor or even failing grade for refusing to take an anti-Israel stance in an assigned paper. You note that is not the role of a university to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive. It is for individuals to make judgements on these views for themselves. Are you saying that expressions of anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Asian racism, anti-Black racism, to cite a few – which may not fall under Canada's rather weak hate speech laws – would be allowed? A different example I would put forward is the speech made at the UM last year by the Palestinian speaker and media personality Bassem Eid which resulted in the suspension of a pro-Israel student groups. By your current "commitment to freedom of expression and speech", would that have have had a different outcome under the terms suggested?
Last year, the encampments on campus deeply affected many students – Jewish and non-Jewish. It is likely that there were participants in the encampments who were not students and thereby trespassing on university property. Would the boundaries and limitations affect such a situation, were it to be repeated? Would the university remove trespassers and/or call in the Winnipeg Police Service to do so? As well. I support and endorse the submission of Bryan Schwartz, Professor in the Faculty of Law, which was sent to the President.
Belle Jarniewski Member of Canada’s Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Education Working Group and Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial
