TORONTO — Hasbara at York and Hasbara Fellowships are asking York University students to speak up about anti-Semitism on campus, because they feel the administration still isn’t doing enough about it.
Hasbara has established a task force, made up of 11 Hasbara members and five people from outside the York community, to collect stories from Jewish students about their experiences at York.
Earlier this year, York convened its own task force – called the Presidential Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community at York University – in response to rising tensions between pro- and anti-Israel students on campus.
The York task force considered a report from UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, Hasbara at York, Hillel at York and the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy. The York task force’s recommendations were presented to president Mamdouh Shoukri this past summer. Among them were creating a committee to promote open discussion and expanding York’s student code of conduct.
For Tyler Golden, Hasbara at York’s co-president, the recommendations didn’t go far enough.
“The task force didn’t really touch on [anti-Semitism] at all. It was a general overview on the issue,” he said. “The needs of Jewish students were not adequately addressed.”
Hasbara is accepting online submissions, but 30 to 40 York students who were affected by anti-Semitism shared their experiences with its task force on Oct. 26.
“Basically, we wanted to facilitate an opportunity for those who otherwise would not have a chance to speak up,” Golden said, adding that York takes too long to deal with complaints.
“What should be a very short process… really is taking months at a time,” he said.
Patrick Monahan, York’s provost and the chair of the school’s task force, said he’s aware of the wait-time issue.
“I think that’s been a problem in the past,” he said. “We have absolutely zero tolerance for any harassment… if there are incidents, as there always will be, they will be dealt with appropriately.”
After Hasbara’s task force has collected testimonies, it will present its results to York’s administration, with recommendations for improvement, Golden said.
Jennifer Diamond, Hillel’s assistant director for Israel affairs, acknowledged that students can get frustrated while waiting for a resolution to their complaints, although she added that Hillel is often a part of the process at York.
“When incidents do happen, often Hillel is the first line of defence… If students come to us with a complaint, we find out what happens… we help them through the university complaint process,” she said.
When a student complains, they must fill out an online form and wait for a response from the university.
“We’ve heard that in the last year or so, the administration has often been a bit quicker in terms of response time,” Diamond said. “I do think that, obviously, there’s a large number of complaints, not just from the Jewish community, [from] everybody on campus.”
Still, Diamond admits there’s room for improvement.
“We see there’s a need for something to happen if we participated in [the university’s] task force,” Diamond said. “I think that all students want to see positive change on their campus… Students have a need for an outlet.”
Golden said Hasbara’s task force can provide that outlet.
“[Anti-Semitism] is a real issue. Broad examples are being called a dirty Jew…references to the Holocaust, not being allowed to wear an [Israel Defence Forces] T-shirt in class and general intimidation on campus,” he said. “We’ve actually been overwhelmed with responses.”
