As pro-Palestinian protests and university encampment inhabitants continue to advocate for a ceasefire, among numerous other calls regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, members of Lakehead University’s faculty have issued an open letter calling on university administration to affirm academic freedom and freedom of expression on the issue.
The letter was put together by LU Solidarity with Palestine, a group of Lakehead faculty members; the group’s letter gained the support of the Lakehead University Student Union (LUSU) at its board meeting in March.
As of May 7, the letter has received 116 signatures, including 75 faculty and 41 students.
The open letter issues four calls, which are as follows:
- An immediate and permanent ceasefire;
- An end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza;
- An end to the sale of Canadian arms and military technology to Israel; and
- A public statement from the university supporting “academic freedom and the faculty and student right to speak freely about Palestine.”
For LU Solidarity with Palestine, one of the goals of the letter is to “create community” and spaces where open dialogue on the conflict can take place, and to ensure students and faculty participating have their academic freedom and freedom of expression affirmed by the university.
LU Solidarity with Palestine member Taina Chahal said she has heard “anecdotal” evidence to the contrary, which is part of why it’s important for the university to affirm freedom of expression on the matter.
“I can only say that … there's anecdotal information that has come forward in different ways,” said the English and Anthropology professor, who clarified she is not a spokesperson for the group.
“That's why we want to be sure that the university speaks publicly about making sure there is that valued freedom of speech, right, for faculty and students and anyone else … to speak freely on this without any questions,” Chahal said.
LUSU vice-president Brandon Rheal Amyot said some members of the student body have expressed concern about speaking freely on the Israel-Palestine conflict at the university.
“What I am aware of is, certainly, students have expressed to me feeling like they are not always welcome to speak about Palestine, whether it be in the classroom, but more specifically in the school environment,” Amyot said. “I know that, for example, there was some consternation or some issues around some postering that students wanted to do back in the fall.”
Amyot said the student union stands against various forms of oppression, including antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ2S hate, and more, and stressed the importance of freedom of expression on university campuses for not only the Israel-Palestine conflict, but numerous issues.
“I think the importance of this is that we are a higher learning institution. It's supposed to be a place for free expression,” they said.
“We want to be able to host speakers on our campuses, have discussions in our classrooms about issues that are important to students from all walks of life," said Amyot.
“In this case, Palestinian students on our campuses, Arab and Muslim students on our campuses, Jewish students on our campuses, who are all speaking out for human rights, and for ending the violence that we see because it has an impact on folks on our campuses.”
Regarding the letter’s three separate calls, Amyot said it’s important for the university community to apply pressure on “decision makers” involved with the conflict.
“Our hope is, by more people adding their voices that will continue to apply pressure,” they said. “Unfortunately, a lot of these actions are coming too late for tens of thousands of people in Palestine. I mean, every loss of life is a shame, so that additional pressure I think matters.”
Chahal said LU Solidarity for Palestine hopes to include the letter on the Lakehead University Faculty Association’s annual general meeting agenda, with the goal of helping more at the university learn about it, and she said the group is planning to meet with a group of students to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Another important element of the letter, she said, is ensuring students feel supported by faculty on discussing the conflict – which she says is a “plausible” genocide.
“We want to ensure that we have faculty to speak, to support any students who wish to speak or (take) actions on Palestine, or on the plausible genocide in Gaza right now,” she said. “That's important, so that the students would know that we are here, right?”
Chahal strayed from using the word “conflict” to describe the situation between Israel and Palestine, arguing there is a strong power imbalance between the two sides, and stressed the importance of speaking out as the situation unfolds – similar to the historical civil rights movement in the United States, Nelson Mandela’s journey to South Africa’s presidency, and more.
“When something's happening in the moment, those who are fierce speak boldly, right?” she said. “They're often the ones who are feared, and they need to be shut down, but then go down 50 years and then those names are the ones that awards are named after.”
Regarding campus discussions on the situation, Chahal said she is unaware of any antisemitic dialogue or actions taking place, and she said LU Solidarity with Palestine is “strongly against any antisemitism.”
In an emailed statement, Lakehead administration said they stand for freedom of expression on campus, with the caveat there are “reasonable limits” to dialogue.
“As a learning institution, freedom of expression is a fundamental part of Lakehead University's community and this is outlined in our free expression policy. Universities are places for diverse ideas and difficult dialogues,” the statement said.
“However, there are reasonable limits that come with these freedoms that are also expressed in this policy, including any expression that violates the law, is threatening, harassing or defamatory, discriminatory or invades privacy or confidentiality interests, or compromises health and safety. Lakehead University has zero tolerance for hate speech, including antisemitism or Islamophobia," notes the statement.
“As a diverse community made up of people from varying backgrounds, cultural contexts and lived experiences, we expect students, faculty and staff to be guided by respect, civility and empathy for all members of our community no matter their point of view.”
Lakehead administration did not respond to a question about whether academic freedom and freedom of expression on the Israel-Palestine conflict had been limited on campus in any instances.
The open letter from Lakehead faculty may be found here.
