Talks between University of Toronto and pro-Palestinian protesters continue as encampment deadline nears

Talks between the University of Toronto and representatives of pro-Palestinian protesters who have been camped out on campus for weeks continued late into the evening Sunday, as the school warned it would seek an injunction if the encampment was not removed by Monday morning.

The protesters at the encampment on King’s College Circle have so far ignored a trespass notice issued by the university on Friday, insisting the protest would continue until a list of demands they announced Sunday before the talks were met.

Sara Rasikh, an encampment spokesperson, said the protesters want the university to disclose public investments in “companies profiting from Israel’s offensive in Gaza.”

They also want the school to cut ties with two Israeli postsecondary institutions – Hebrew University, claiming it has a presence in Israeli settlements, and Technion, the Haifa-based Israel Institute of Technology, which Ms. Rasikh said is working with Israeli forces to determine bombing targets in Gaza.

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“We hope that the University of Toronto acknowledges the gravity of the situation at hand and acknowledges that we don’t have time to waste,” said Ms. Rasikh, who is doing a master’s and studying social justice education at U of T.

“Our counteroffer puts forth that procedures cannot be slow or bureaucratic or dictatorial when people are dying.”

The university quickly countered with a written statement saying it has no investments in companies that manufacture weapons. In response to any claims connecting U of T in any way to Israeli military action in Gaza or that U of T president Meric Gertler confirmed that the university has investments in weapons manufacturing companies, a university spokesperson said that such claims have no basis in fact.

At press time Sunday, the issue had not been resolved. Another U of T spokesperson told The Globe and Mail that talks were continuing, and that the university did not expect there would be any updates until Monday morning.

Tensions ratcheted up Friday, when the university issued a trespass notice giving protesters until Monday at 8 a.m. to leave their camp, which has been in place since May 2. The university has said that if protesters do not leave, it will seek an injunction from the Ontario Superior Court to force them off campus grounds.

According to the trespass notice, students who fail to leave university property by Monday morning could be subject to discipline, including sanctions as severe as a five-year suspension or a recommendation of expulsion. It also said that faculty, librarians and staff may be subject to disciplinary measures up to and including termination.

The University of Toronto Faculty Association reacted with shock and alarm to the trespass letter, saying it was the first time that professors have faced such a public threat from the university administration when exercising what they described as their rights to academic freedom and free expression.

“It is literally unprecedented in the modern era of the relationship between the U of T administration and UTFA that there has been a public threat of mass termination of association members for exercising their academic freedom,” said Jeff Bale, faculty association vice-president, university and external affairs.

“I was taken aback by the really sharp change of tone.”

The association said it is committed to protecting the rights of faculty and have been meeting with legal counsel on how to do so.

Also Sunday, students gained the support of the Ontario Federation of Labour, which represents 54 unions and more than one million workers in the province.

Federation president Laura Walton issued a letter to Mr. Gertler, U of T’s president, writing that she “unequivocally supports the right of students to engage in peaceful protest on campus,” and urging Mr. Gertler to “reverse course immediately and choose negotiations and discussion over ultimatums and repression.”

Ms. Walton told Mr. Gertler that the OFL is planning to host a solidarity rally at the grassy expanse where the encampment is located. The OFL rally is set to coincide with the trespass notice deadline of 8 a.m.

“If, by then, you decide to move against the students, you’ll have to go through the workers first,” Ms. Walton wrote.

With a report from The Canadian Press