A University of Toronto spokesman told JNS that a motion the student union passed last week calling for the university to sever ties with Israeli universities “would have no impact on the university’s partnerships or operations.”
“The University of Toronto firmly opposes academic boycotts, which are antithetical to the university’s commitments to academic freedom and the free circulation of ideas and debate,” the spokesman for the public school told JNS.
“All U of T partnerships and agreements comply with Canadian law and university policies,” the spokesman said.
The resolution, adopted at the union’s annual general meeting, names the university’s research alliance with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The motion also accuses Israel of “genocide.”
During debate before the vote, a supporter argued that academic boycotts succeeded against apartheid in South Africa. An opponent warned that ending partnerships would also hurt Arab and Palestinian students attending Israeli universities.
Hillel of Ontario and StandWithUs Canada condemned the resolution “in the strongest possible terms” and said that “an academic boycott does nothing to advance peace or help Palestinians.”
“It marginalizes Jewish and Israeli students and scholars, and it treats the open exchange of ideas that a university exists to protect as something up for a vote,” they stated.
They added that the union tried to exclude people who might oppose it from attending the meeting.
The groups said registration for the meeting closed more than a week before the meeting and reopened only hours before the vote after students raised concerns.
“As a student society, UTSU is autonomous but is subject to university policies and must operate in an open, accessible and democratic manner,” the university spokesman told JNS.
