In the span of just a few days in late March, there were two separate incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti at the University of Western Ontario.

Also at Western, some professors have continued to pressure university president Paul Davenport to pull out of the Jewish National Fund’s upcoming Negev Dinner in London, where he will be the honoree.

Meanwhile there has been persistent unrest at York University. The group “Students Against Israeli Apartheid” (SAIA) barricaded the university’s senate chamber on March 27, demanding an immediate meeting with York president Mamdouh Shoukri. On the same day, SAIA supporters clashed with Jewish students, while on March 31, these agitators again sowed discord, this time by disrupting an address by former Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky.

At McMaster University, a backlash against the university administration was expected in response to its actions to tone down offensive slogans that had characterized “Israeli Apartheid Week.” We didn’t have to wait long. Under the guise of a “free speech forum,” an ugly hate-fest directed against Israel and Zionism was held in late February.

These incidents, and others like them, speak to an enormously troubling escalation in acts of intimidation against Jewish students and faculty on Ontario campuses. That Jewish interests are being threatened should be obvious. Yet there are those in our community who think otherwise and who would have us believe that those who draw attention to this mounting onslaught are alarmist or just plain uninformed.

Nonetheless, there has been a reaction to these events – and it has come mostly from the grassroots. At McMaster, for example, it’s been students who have led the charge in bringing these matters – and their concerns – to the attention of the university administration, law enforcement and the public at large. They, and others like them at York and elsewhere, have sent a powerful and unambiguous message: enough is enough. Our rights are being eroded. We will not put up with being bullied. We will not stand idly by while our values, our identity and our support for the State of Israel are under attack.

Moreover, what has begun to emerge, much more resolutely than before, is a co-ordinated Jewish faculty voice on campus.  At Western, Jewish academics have been quick to rally to Davenport’s side, commending him for his decision to still accept the JNF award. Faculty groups at McMaster and the University of Toronto have also been very actively engaged in countering the vilification of Israel and Jews on their campuses.

It’s evident that students and faculty are playing an essential role in Israel advocacy.  How this meshes with the views of our communal leaders will be explored in my column next month.