Rallies and personal attacks have become common as Canadian universities become battlegrounds for discussions on the Israel-Hamas war. Academics express concern over the potential impact on free expression.
Heated debates about the Israel-Hamas war have permeated Canadian university campuses, with rallies held at multiple locations and some student unions censured or criticized for statements about the conflict. Academics are alarmed to see dissent shifting into personal attacks and wary of a potential chill on free expression.
While protest rallies at school have so far been largely peaceful, and there are more security guards around campus, Burman said, the mood at York is different these days. "There's been some flare-ups , but never anything this big, where I've actually been concerned for my safety.
First, with Canada's multicultural makeup, there are naturally students from or with ties to the Mideast region attending university, he said. In that climate, he said, university leaders should take care in how they navigate this period of dissenting opinions about the Middle East conflict and hew closely to applicable laws and existing policies when weighing any action against student unions, groups or individuals to prevent free expression from becoming a casualty of a hasty decision.
"Administrators struggling to find the right kind of balance that, on the one hand, does justice to the suffering of the individuals that we see daily on television and at the same time restrains us enough so that when we express our positions on that suffering on the conflict, we do so in ways that don't harm other people.
Muller, as with Dea and D'Orazio, expressed alarm at the vengeful situations taking place on some campuses in the United States — for example, the public release of personal contact information of authors of statements deemed controversial — and the notion that type of retaliation could spread to Canada.
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