McGill University is set to end its contractual relationship with the student union, both institutions announced on Monday, in response to an anti-Israel student strike that led to the blockading and interrupting of classes, vandalism, and violent altercations.
In line with the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement between McGill and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), due to the termination, a mediated process would be held until June to attempt to resolve their differences.
SSMU said on Monday that all SSMU operations would continue as normal during the mediation process.
The administration had terminated the contract, Interim Deputy Provost Angela Campbell explained in a letter to McGill students, that SSMU had failed to disassociate or reject unrecognized student groups that engaged in vandalism and intimidation during the student union's three-day "strike in support of Palestinian liberation."
During the April 2-4 strike, adopted in a motion during a March 27 SSMU Special Strike General Assembly, keffiyeh-clad activists blockedaded or interrupted dozens of classes.
Students feel unsafe
"Students and instructors were unable to teach or learn," wrote Campbell. "Many felt threatened, intimidated, and unsafe."
In one incident related by Campbell, activists smashed a glass office door using a paint-filled fire hydrant, and sprayed paint inside the office, hitting one staff member.
While SSMU had denounced such actions in a Friday statement, Campbell said that the university was concerned about the consequences of the strike initiated by the union, and peaceful protest had to be "demonstrated not just in words but in practice."
SSMU had issued two warnings about intimidation and violence by strike participants, reminding Friday that the protests were supposed to be "peaceful and voluntary." The union reiterated its April 2 message that it did not endorse actions such as classroom disruptions, vandalism, and violent altercations.
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill, which participated in the strike and praised the establishment of "picket lines" at the entrance of classes to enforce the "strike mandate," said in a Tuesday statement that the administration's threat to revoke funding and campus access was a frequently employed strategy to impose restrictions on students. It cited the revocation of its club status in 2024
SPHR called on SSMU to reject any concessions to the McGill administration.
"This newest threat is a reaction to pressure from Zionist donors and our warmongering political class, who are desperate to regain control of a student body that stands with Palestine in its struggle for liberation," SPHR said in its Instagram statement.
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and Honest Reporting Canada praised McGill's decision to cancel its contract with SSMU in Monday X posts, saying that this sent a message that actions have consequences.
Despite the Monday decision by McGill, Bnai Brith Canada announced Tuesday that it was supporting a class-action lawsuit against the institution due to campus antisemitism.
The Application for Authorization to Institute a Class Action lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Montreal by Fishman Flanz Meland Paquin LLP. It argued that McGill should reimburse plaintiffs for an environment of “overt anti-Zionist and antisemitic sentiment and activity” that breached obligations to protect them from harassment and discrimination.
“B’nai Brith Canada is supporting McGill’s Jewish students because the university has allowed the situation to get out of hand,” B’nai Brith Canada Quebec and Atlantic Canada regional director Henry Topas said in the statement.
“Radicalized individuals, both students and non-students, are preventing Jewish students from obtaining the university experience to which they are entitled.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, McGill’s student union and other university-affiliated groups have been permitted to vilify Israel and exclude or ignore the rights of their Jewish members."
The Jewish group cited the February 2024 assault of a prospective plaintiff during a protest, to which no account has been held, and SPHR's praise of the October 7 Massacre. It also noted SPHR's 2024 encampment "revolutionary youth program."
Last week's strike had been held in a bid to push the McGill administration to boycott financial and academic ties with Israel. SPHR said last Thursday on Instagram that the strike had shown that the study body was united in seeking "full divestment from companies fuelling the war machine."
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"The students will not rest until full divestment and liberation," SPHR said in a Friday Instagram post. "Glory to our martyrs and glory to Gaza."