Students rally outside Board of Governors meetings at Concordia and McGill
Students called for the universities to “cut ties with Zionism”
On Feb. 6, several dozen students rallied to protest outside Board of Governors (BoG) meetings at Concordia University and McGill University.
Protesters began gathering around 3:30 p.m. outside the Guy-De Maisonneuve Building to pressure the Concordia BoG to adopt a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) motion presented by the Concordia Student Union (CSU) to the board. On Jan. 29, over 800 students voted at a special general meeting (SGM) to bring the motion to the BoG.
The Link was not able to access the “open session” BoG meeting.
At around 4 p.m. when the meeting was scheduled to start, the Zoom stream to the observers’ room in the Concordia Engineering and Visual Arts (EV) Building crashed due to what an instructional and information technology services technician claimed was an “issue with the stream.”
At this time, the screen read, “The host removed you from the meeting.”
A source on the BoG told The Link that other governors were able to join the meeting on Zoom. The Link was given no other information about the meeting.
At around 4:30 p.m., protesters, followed by around eight SPVM officers on bikes, began marching down Ste. Catherine St. and Sherbrooke St. to McGill. Banners read “Board of Genociders” and “Divest blood money. Shame.” They stopped in front of the James Administration Building, where McGill held its BoG meeting.
Some protesters threw red and black paint on the doors of the administration building. At least seven police officers were standing beside the building, with at least another seven on bikes.
During the protest, under heavy snowfall, students chanted English, French and Arabic phrases like, "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," and “Israel bombs, Concordia pays, how many kids did you kill today?”
“The students are demanding that our universities follow international law and stop investing in [complicit] companies so that our tuition money isn't funding this genocide,” said Zaina Karim, a representative from Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) McGill.
According to Karim, the students mobilized against McGill and Concordia’s investments in companies that are “complicit in genocide,” like military weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
“I want McGill to divest from military corporations,” said a McGill student who was granted anonymity for fear of academic repercussions.
Both SPHR McGill and Concordia called for the rally to “cut ties with Zionism” in an Instagram post on Jan. 31. The rally was supported by several student organizations at Concordia, including Academics for Palestine, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia, Regards Palestiniens, the Sociology and Anthropology Student Union, the Geography Undergraduate Student Society and other groups.
Nearly 1,000 Concordia undergraduate students attended the SGM on Jan. 29 to vote on two BDS motions presented by the CSU. Over 90 per cent of students in attendance voted in favour of both motions.
The first motion called on the CSU to advocate for the university to divest from companies complicit in genocide, to defend student activists from sanctions, and to declare support for a full arms embargo. The motion named Bombardier, Lockheed Martin and Airbus, among others.
The second motion called on the CSU executive team to bring the contents of the first motion to a vote at the BoG meeting on Feb. 6.
Karim said she believes that university presidents should listen to their student’s demands.
“All they do is, they threaten their students by calling the police on them,” Karim said.
Earlier on Feb. 6, the Concordia administration sent an email to the CSU, informing the union that the university has opened an investigation into the Jan. 29 SGM and suspended all CSU bookings.
In response to the university’s email, another student who was granted anonymity for fear of academic repercussions said Concordia was not receptive to student demands.
“It shows that it's important to get out in the streets because through the university, there's no way,” the student said. “They don’t listen to us.”
A day after the rally, on Feb. 7, SPHR released another statement calling out Concordia and McGill for failing to divest and for suspending student associations.
“Instead of divesting, the Concordia and McGill administrations have sanctioned and threatened the CSU, PSS, QPIRG McGill, and suspended both SPHRs for standing with Palestine,” reads the statement.
The protest cleared out at around 5:30 p.m. at the McGill Metro Station.
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