Community body to probe tensions at York U

TORONTO — Jewish volunteers and students have formed a commission to address the increase in anti-Jewish and anti-Israel incidents during the last academic year at York University.

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) and Hillel of Greater Toronto are behind the 10-person commission, called the Quality of Life for Jewish Students at York University, which is being chaired by UJA Federation board member Elyse Lackie.

Other members include federation volunteers Morris Perlis and Tom Lobel; Hillel at York president Daniel Ferman, Hasbara at York co-president Tyler Golden, and York student Miryam Speigel.

The commission is seeking submissions from community members who have experienced hostility at York and have ideas about improving the quality of Jewish life on campus.

In recent months, there have been a number of incidents in which Jewish students have been intimidated, including one on Feb. 11 when Jewish students were barricaded in the Hillel lounge by students yelling anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slurs. The Jewish students had to be escorted off campus by police.

Last week, Krisna Saravanamuttu, incoming president of the York Federation of Students, was fined, and both he and York student Jesse Zimmerman were ordered to undergo sensitivity training for having violated the York student code of conduct for their roles in the incident.

UJA Federation spokesperson and commission member Howard English said commission members have already had a meeting, during which they discussed their goals and how they will achieve their objectives.

“We obviously want to improve the quality of Jewish life at York, we want to help York ensure a safe environment for all students and we want to provide members of our community with an opportunity to have their say,” English said.

“We see this as a unique way of involving the community in the process of creating change at York. We see this is as a really democratic process. We see this as an opportunity for the community to turn their concern into action.”

The commission hopes to present recommendations to the York University Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community by June 15. The task force – headed by Osgoode Hall Law School dean Patrick Monahan, York’s incoming provost – was struck earlier this year after clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students. Its mandate is to improve security and relations among students at York.

“We’re doing this because we want York to maintain its global reputation as a centre of higher learning, and because we genuinely want to improve the atmosphere at York on behalf of Jewish students and all students,” English added.  “As long as there is a strong Jewish presence [at York], we want to make sure that the quality of life for Jewish students is better than it has been to date.”

English said that the recommendations will outline ways that York can improve the safety and security of all students on campus.

“The recommendations will be very specific about what York can do to amend, perhaps, its codes of conduct, and to initiate regulatory steps that would prevent incidents that have taken place from taking place again.”

He said that the commission is not intended to be an alternative to York’s task force, but is meant to assist the task force by providing information that could help improve student life on campus.

“The community is concerned about the atmosphere facing Jewish students. We understand that, so rather than just complaining, we felt that we wanted to provide a unique opportunity to the community to do something about their concern.”

Submissions should be sent to [email protected]. The deadline for submission is June 1.