Pro-Palestine students at U of Manitoba call for answers after union cancels meeting over safety concerns

July 29, 2024 Canuck

The University of Manitoba Student Union has put on hold a meeting which would’ve set a deadline for a report on the definition of anti-Palestinian racism amid what the union says has been an escalation of harassment. But students who wanted to hear responses to concerns on the matter say the move is an attempt to avoid scrutiny.

In a post on social media late Thursday, the union advised students that day’s board meeting had been postponed until further notice due to safety concerns, though it didn’t elaborate on what those safety concerns were.

On the agenda was a motion to move the deadline for an anonymous committee — made out of board members ��— to present its report outlining the definition of anti-Palestinian racism to Dec. 9, with the motion saying the target date didn’t give the committee enough time for meaningful consultations.

Student advocates say the definition would signal hate toward Palestinians on campus is not tolerated, and would bolster supports within the union for members facing such discrimination.

Belkis Elmoudi, a University of Manitoba student, said about 10 students were waiting outside council chambers Thursday as security staff put up a notice on the main doors saying the meeting had been postponed.

Elmoudi said neither security nor any board members she spoke to knew what was behind the postponement.

“The optics of putting that statement out made it seem like we were the danger,” she said.

“As someone who has already faced acts of hate … and Islamophobia on this campus, I’m really worried that that statement is going to increase those acts.”

A sign which says 'Due to safety concerns, the UMSU board meeting has been postponed until further notice.' — In a statement to CBC News on Saturday, the union said that, over the last three months, its executive, board and staff members have been subjected to ‘repeated online and in person harassment and intimidation.’ (Submitted by Victoria Romero)

In a statement to CBC News on Saturday, the union said that over the last three months, its executive, board and staff members have been subjected to “repeated online and in-person harassment and intimidation.”

“Those engaged in this behaviour, have shown complete disregard for the rules of decorum and order,” the statement said. “With the vitriol, harassment and intimidating behaviour escalating in recent days, there was real concern for the safety of those attending the board meeting.”

The union said examples of past harassment include “attempts to violate the sanctity of closed session,” members of the board being asked how they voted on a motion, yelling and banging on windows during meetings and online bullying.

Victoria Romero said to her knowledge, students have not engaged in personal attacks or harassment. She said students belonging to some advocacy groups are, however, demanding answers.

“These things have been purely demanding for accountability, [we’re] well within our right to do so, the same way you’d ask a provincial MLA or a federal MP to … be accountable to their position,” she said.

“If the executives feel as though people standing outside with a sign is harmful or that they are so uncomfortable to see people who are actively dissenting outside their meeting, that really does say a lot about their work.”

Romero said the only instance she’s aware of students banging on windows was in early May, when some weren’t able to access a virtual online meeting which was supposed to be an open-door session.

CBC News reached out to multiple board members and the union’s president, but they declined to be interviewed.

Union not giving committee tools to do its job, student says

A note posted about the motion for Thursday’s meeting gave students until 9 a.m. that day to submit any concerns or questions via email in order to respect the anonymity of committee members. It said no further questions would be taken at the board meeting.

Romero said the meeting was open-door, and that the students just wanted to get answers to questions they had already submitted.

She said the union is not providing the tools the committee needs to do its job and is only informing students about the submission process a week before the meeting even though it had given the committee six weeks in total for consultations.

“Even though [the committee] may be working their hardest to get this definition done, they are unable to do so because the UMSU staff and institution have been systemically withholding this and systemically working against Palestinian students,” she said.

A statement read out by students at the pro-Palestine encampment at the university’s quad the day the encampment came down called on the union to swiftly implement a definition of anti-Palestinian racism, saying it failed to protect its members through “consistent delay and stalling.”

Romero said over the last eight months, Palestinian students have faced various instances of discrimination.

“There is already an existing antisemitism definition, an anti-Latino hate definition and different other mechanisms that specifically reference different identity groups,” she said.

“Those identity groups have been able to, without any difficulty, have those definitions added into the governing documents.”

Elmoudi said that earlier in the week a meeting between union representatives and members of a Palestinian solidarity group was cancelled abruptly, with the union president saying they did not believe the meeting would be productive.

“It just seems like a continue of deferring and denying. I don’t know if they’re planning or just hoping that eventually students will stop asking them for support,” she said.

The union said in its statement it strives to be inclusive for all members, and that it hopes it can have a “productive, respectful meeting” where students are heard in the future.

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