McGill University has announced it will end its contract with its student union due to the events that transpired last week during pro-Palestinian protests on the school’s campus.
Interim deputy provost of student life and learning Angela Campbell said the school made the decision to end the contract after a three-day strike that she said was “supported” by the union.
The Students Society of McGill University (SSMU) “allowed and, at least tacitly, supported a three-day strike that further divided a campus community already deeply cleaved and hurting,” Campbell wrote in a letter to the student body that was provided to The Epoch Times by the university.
She said SSMU should have voted against the strike motion, but did not. A notice on SSMU social media promotes a “McGill strike in support of Palestinian Liberation” from April 2-4.
“The result was a campus environment in which dozens of classes were blocked or interrupted. Students and instructors were unable to teach or learn. Many felt threatened, intimidated, and unsafe,” she wrote.
The letter said there was an “incident in which individuals smashed a glass office door using a fire hydrant filled with red paint. The paint was sprayed throughout the office while staff were inside. One staff member was hit directly.”
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Campbell said demonstrators went too far during the strike, causing the university to reconsider the contract with the student union. She called the behaviour during the strike “unacceptable.”
Under the terms of the contract, either side is permitted to end the contract with “no fault assigned,” Campbell said, noting that the terms of the contract require the SSMU and the university administration to mediate.
SSMU president Dymetri Taylor told The Epoch Times the union had encouraged a peaceful protest from the start.
“We don’t have enforceable mechanisms to stop students from preventing other people from going to class,“ Taylor said in an interview. ”That lies with McGill, that lies with the police, that lies with those with the authority to do so.”
In response to the campus activities, SSMU said it expected students to protest peacefully.
“These actions are neither in the spirit of the strike motion ratified by the SSMU membership not the SSMU’s internal policies and regulations,” the students union said in a recent social media post. “As stated in the SSMU’s previous message on April 2, the SSMU does not endorse these actions.”
SSMU said members have a responsibility to ensure campus is a “place where we can all feel safe to learn and express our views.” The Instagram post said it was clear this responsibility “has not been upheld.”
Taylor said that the university’s decision will make the relationship with the student union “awkward.”
“It will impede our actual work relationship between the university and the Student Society, and will make it quite awkward to even continue a relationship,” he said. “But that relationship will continue nonetheless.”
Taylor said the mediation process will begin within two weeks and SSMU said it expected the mediation process to last until June.
“Until further notice, all SSMU operations, including, but not limited to, clubs, services, employment, University Centre bookings, and insurance, will continue as normal,” SSMU said in an April 7 statement on its website.
“The SSMU is committed to advocating for our members and doing its utmost to ensure that student services and student-run clubs continue to operate as expected.”
Campbell said the university administration acknowledged the union’s position, but is in need of more reassurance.
“While the SSMU has since issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to peaceful protest and recognizing that some events during the strike turned violent, McGill University remains deeply concerned about the consequences of this strike,“ she said. ”A commitment to peaceful protest must be demonstrated not just in words but in practice.”
Campbell said the university would enter the mediation process with SSMU “in the spirit of resolution.”
