On May 2, pro-Palestinian students and demonstrators set up camp on the lawn of King’s College Circle, in the heart of the University of Toronto campus. They are demanding changes to the university’s financial management.
This encampment was set up a few days after those on the campuses of McGill and the University of Ottawa. Confrontations also took place between demonstrators and police officers new York at University Columbia.
The Toronto camp is organized by the group U of T Occupy for Palestinewhich established a list of three demands.
The demands of the protest group
Disclose all investments held in endowment funds, short-term working capital funds and other financial assets of the university;
Divest the University’s endowment, assets and other financial holdings from all direct and indirect investments that support Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal colonization of Palestine;
End all partnerships with Israeli academic institutions that operate in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, or that support the apartheid policies of the State of Israel and its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Instagram page of U of T Occupy for Palestine
We’re going to stay here until we get our requests. […] We don’t know how long it will take, but we hope it will be soon
explains Kalliopé student Anvar McCall.
We know it’s going to be a fight, we’re ready to be here for the long term.
An endowment fund of $3.3 billion
The University of Toronto’s endowment fund is the largest of any university in the country, according to an article in the CBC from 2023 (New window). It was a total of $3,267,000,000 for the 2022-23 financial year.
What is an endowment fund?
Fund consisting of sums of money or securities obtained by way of bequest or donation and the capital of which is generally kept intact or is allocated, as are the financial products resulting therefrom, for the purposes determined by the testator or donor.
Source: Office québécois de la langue française (New window)
These funds have made headlines a few times in recent years.
In September 2023, in the wake of the scandal surrounding the presence in the House of Commons of a former soldier who fought alongside the Nazis, the University of Alberta returned a donation to the family of Yaroslav Hunka.
With this donation, his family created an endowment fund intended to finance Ukrainian research.
The University acknowledges and regrets the unintentional harm caused [par l’acceptation de ce don]
declared the dean of the university at the time.
A year earlier, protesters at the University of Montreal demanded that the institution stop using its endowment fund to invest in the oil, natural gas and fuels industry.
Blake Phillipsdirector of the school of accounting and finance at the University of Waterloo, told the CBC in 2023 that endowments can be an attractive option for donors looking to preserve their legacy and a way to align their values with those of an institution.
Investments that are not public
We are asking the University of Toronto to make public the list of these investments, so that we can see to what extent it is complicit in this genocide.
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A protester ties another protester’s keffiyeh at the encampment at the University of Toronto.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Chris Young
The group’s demonstrations U of T Occupy for Palestine are not from yesterday. In fact, they have had the same demands for months.
Representatives met with university president Meric Gertler in early April. He then rejected their requests.
Every Canadian institution shares the obligation to divest from investments that support the Israeli army in order not to be complicit in the crime of genocide
says a statement from the group on Instagram.
The end of partnerships with post-secondary institutions
Protesters also demand that the University of Toronto cut all ties with educational institutions who operate in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, or who support the apartheid policies of the State of Israel
.
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The demonstrators set up their camp on Thursday. (Archives)
Photo: The Canadian Press / Christopher Katsarov
Kalliope Anvar McCalla demonstrator from the camp, points out in particular two institutions with which the University of Toronto has links.
She accuses the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of having a campus in occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem
. In 2020, the University of Toronto announced a research and innovation partnership (New window) with this same university.
mrs Anvar McCall also accuses the Israel Institute of Technology of training Israeli army troops. The University of Toronto has a student exchange program with the university based in Haifa.
The University of Toronto is asked to cut all relations with these Israeli universities
she says.
The University rejects the idea of a academic boycott”,”text”:”academic boycott”}}”>academic boycott
In a written response to the group and shared with Radio-Canada, the president of the University of Toronto indicates that this claim goes against a long-standing policy against academic boycotts
.
Because any university boycott is contrary to the mission and fundamental values of the University, we firmly reject this request to end such partnerships.
says Mr. Gertler.
University of Toronto president notes collaborations between institution and Israeli universities include faculty-to-faculty project aimed at combating hate speech in the region and fostering solidarity engagement with Palestinian students
.
He adds that he is both inappropriate and ultimately counterproductive to target academics who work or study in a particular country and hold them accountable for the actions or policies of their country’s government
.
Today’s pressing problems will be best addressed by academics – protected by academic freedom – working together to deepen our understanding of these difficult questions and help find solutions.
