More than a dozen tents cover the grass of a courtyard at Queen’s University, while signs and banners call for the school to cut ties with Israel as its war in Gaza continues.
Approximately 30 protesters set up camp outside Richardson Hall over the weekend and say they intend to stay until the administration meets their demands.
“We will continue to organize, we will continue to escalate as long as the university refuses to immediately divest,” said Yara Hussein, one of the encampment organizers and a student at Queen’s.
Group has 6 demands
She listed six demands, including divestment from all companies or organizations connected to Israel, more disclosure around endowments or investments, and an academic boycott that would end exchange programs with Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion universities.
“We know that divestment works,” Hussein said, adding that in the past Queen’s pulled its businesses assets out of South Africa during apartheid.
“We know that by targeting these financial corporations and these institutions that are profiting from war and from blood, that we can prevent further harm.”
The protesters are also pushing Queen’s to protect students, staff and faculty from what Hussein described as “policing and surveillance” since they began demonstrating on campus in November.
The tents at Queen’s are part of a wave of similar protests happening at universities across North America, some of which have been forcibly cleared by police.
A statement shared on behalf of Queen’s University said administrators met with protesters who provided them with a request that the school consider divestment.
It added that the request is being reviewed in line with a procedure that requires a written case and a petition with at least 200 signatures. Those documents would then be examined by the university’s principal and an independent committee.
“While we encourage respectful discourse and debate on our campus, we will not tolerate harassment, discrimination, intimidation, threats of violence, or illegal acts, and we will use the tools at our disposal to address them,” the statement read.
A spokesperson for Kingston Police said the force doesn’t have a presence at the encampment and “are not involved,” directing any further questions to Queen’s.
University refers to reports of ‘aggressive acts’
The university’s statement said while the encampment is “largely peaceful at the moment,” there were reports of “aggressive acts and threats” on May 10.
Video shared on social media by student newspaper The Queen’s Journal on that date shows protesters shouting “shame” at administrators walking out of Richardson Hall.
One of the videos appeared to show shoving involving security and protesters near one of the doors.
A group called the Queen’s University Faculty Observer’s Network, issued a statement of its own Monday afternoon, saying it objects in the “strongest possible terms” to the university’s description of those events.
The organization, made up of faculty who support the protest, claim security were the ones being aggressive.
Hussein said protesters were chanting slogans and repeating their calls for divestment on May 10 when security staff, who were holding the doors open, began pushing them.
She said the protesters’ intention was to directly address the university’s decision-makers, not to enter the building.
Hussein also questioned the process the university said it’s undertaking to consider divestment.
“It is very clear that Queen’s just anticipates the students [will] get tired and … leave eventually,” she said.
“Whether the university divests tomorrow, whether they divest five years from now, we will continue to organize and we will continue to call for divestment.”