May 31, 2024

To all VIUFA members and other members of the VIU community,

On May 31, 2024, the VIUFA Executive resolved the following:  “That VIUFA divest from any and all investments, direct and indirect, in companies that are complicit in the violence, occupation, and dispossession occurring in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The disastrous events in Israel and Gaza over recent months have horrified the world.  The international community has been activated in protest.  In particular, university campuses have emerged as a locus of discussion, information, and calls to action on this issue.

VIUFA participates in the global action aimed at Netanyahu’s government in Israel, because we recognize that the current Israeli administration shares responsibility for the situation in Gaza with Hamas.

An essential part of a university’s mission is to host respectful debate and the free exchange of ideas toward the betterment of society and the world.  Under extraordinary circumstances, the debate pushes beyond the usual bounds of university policy, campus rules, and the Trespass Act.  This is because the need is urgent.  But stepping outside the rules introduces risks.

By maintaining an unauthorized encampment, the student protestors bear certain risks – risk of arrest and risk of academic penalty.

By refraining from removing an unauthorized encampment, VIU, with responsibility for the safety and security of its employees and students, bears certain risks.

VIU must balance its responsibility for campus safety with its commitment to the university’s mission, which in the current circumstance means being host to an important protest that is catalyzing discussion and connection for many in our community affected by these difficult events.  VIUFA calls upon all who use our campus to recognize that security measures may be expected and should be tolerated as part of campus safety.  We call upon VIU to ensure that security is reasonable and appropriate to the circumstances, and to ensure that security contractors recognize that the University sees peaceful protest on campus in the present circumstances as fulfilling an important part of the University mission, and that protesters must be treated with respect.

Further, VIUFA calls upon protesters to understand that members of our community may experience not just intellectual discomfort, but intimidation or fear in response to actions or views expressed as part of the protest.

  • We ask for moderation and understanding in encounters among community members.
  • We call for compliance with security measures that are not barriers to peaceful protest.

The University’s mission is also to teach, learn, create knowledge, and to celebrate student achievements in convocation.  We ask that the protest present no barrier to these activities.

Finally, we call upon Vancouver Island University and the students of the Protest Encampment to meet and negotiate, as others at peer universities have done: (a) a peaceful end to the encampment; and (b) the divestment of the University from companies that are complicit in the violence, occupation, and dispossession occurring in Gaza and the West Bank.

On December 11, 2023, VIUFA issued the following statement:

VIUFA supports the FPSE Statement on the War in Gaza

 VIUFA and the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) are deeply saddened by the events of the past few weeks, and we demand a ceasefire. The escalating conflict across the Middle East region in Israel, Palestine, and Gaza is having deep impacts within our community and the world. We unequivocally condemn the attacks against innocent civilians. Our students, faculty, and staff, many with ties to the region, may be experiencing fear, sorrow, anger, and feelings of unsafety. Our classrooms should be a place of compassion and peace where painful subjects can be discussed with respect and insight. To our colleagues and students we affirm that we are committed to ensuring a safe and inclusive community for all and that we denounce all acts of violence, hate, and discrimination.

 VIUFA will donate $500 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Gaza Emergency Appeal.

On May 1, 2024, a Palestine Solidarity Encampment was established on the Nanaimo campus of VIU.

On May 3, VIUFA shared the following statement with the University community:

Universities are places where people encounter ideas, including ideas they do not agree with – where people engage with ideas in peaceful, respectful dialogue.   It is through thoughtful engagement with those who hold views different from our own that we develop a moral imagination that encompasses a wider humanity, which can lead us to a different future.  VIUFA asserts that freedom of expression and freedom of association, our right by law, must particularly be defended at a university, by which we mean, particularly at VIU.  We support the freedom to engage in peaceful protest.  We ask that all in our community — protesters, students, faculty, University employees and campus visitors — be peaceful and treat one another with respect.

On May 9, VIUFA Executive began the preliminary process of divestment in Israel.

On May 16, FPSE, at its AGM, resolved the following (moved by Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association):

Whereas FPSE stands for academic freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of 

assembly,

Whereas students at Thompson Rivers University successfully negotiated the University’s disclosure of and potential divestment from any and all companies complicit in the violence, occupation, and dispossession occurring in Gaza and the West Bank,

And whereas post-secondary students nationally and globally are experiencing arrest and vilification by their administrations for their involvement in peaceful protest and assembly,

Be it resolved that FPSE shall disclose and divest from any and all investments, direct and indirect, in companies that are complicit in the violence, occupation, and dispossession occurring in Gaza and the West Bank against the Palestinian people,

And be it further resolved that FPSE shall call upon member locals and their respective institutions to

  • Disclose and divest from any and all investments, direct and indirect, in companies

that are complicit in the violence, occupation, and dispossession occurring in Gaza

and the West Bank against the Palestinian people; and

  • Advocate for the support and protection of the academic freedom and freedom of

expression for all post-secondary students, staff, and faculty who demonstrate against

Israel’s military campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the complicity of Canadian

institutions in Israel’s colonial violence.

On May 31, 2024: VIUFA Executive resolution:  “That VIUFA divest from any and all investments, direct and indirect, in companies that are complicit in the violence, occupation, and dispossession occurring in Gaza and the West Bank.”