McGill University announced it intends to cut ties with its student union following a three-day pro-Palestinian protest on campus last week.
The university and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) have a contractual agreement that either party can end with no fault assigned, provided there were mediation attempts, according to McGill Interim Deputy Provost Angela Campbell.
SSMU president Dymetri Taylor said mediation should begin in the next two weeks and could last until June. The university said it will make sure “students continue to have strong, democratic representation and uninterrupted access to critical services” regardless of the outcome.
If the contract between the university and union is dissolved, the union’s access to university spaces may be revoked – including offices for clubs and services, student papers, the legal information clinic, a café and bar – and organizations will have to drop the McGill name.
The SSMU represents over 20,000 McGill undergraduates and operates independently from the university. It advocates for students and provides resources and services like the grocery program, health and dental plan, daycares, mental health services, a sexual violence centre, education resources, funding opportunities for clubs, and more.
The SSMU’s funding is protected under Bourassa-era Act Respecting the Accreditation and Financing of Students’ Associations, known as Quebec’s Student Union Act.
‘Acts of vandalism’
In a message sent to McGill’s student body Monday, Campbell said the university recognizes the importance of the services provided by SSMU but that its leadership “has been neither unanimous nor explicit in dissociating itself from or rejecting groups without recognized status at McGill that endorse or engage in acts of vandalism, intimidation, and obstruction as forms of activism.”
According to Campbell, during the three-day protest, dozens of classes were blocked or interrupted, a window was smashed and red paint was sprayed in an office while staff were inside – with one being hit directly.
“These tactics do nothing to support or advance the causes they purport to advance. They divide our community and threaten to foment hate against groups who are already vulnerable,” said Campbell.
A referendum for three days of protest came after Israel broke a three-month ceasefire with Hamas and resumed bombing Gaza on March 18, saying it wanted the release of remaining hostages. Since then, the United Nations reported that over 142,000 Palestinians have been displaced, and over 1,000 were killed, while Israel has been blocking all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
According to the SSMU, between March 28 and 31, 17 per cent of students voted in the referendum to protest. Over 70 per cent of those students voted in favour of the mandate, which called for voluntary and peaceful demonstrations and classroom boycotts.
On April 4, the union said it received “reports and evidence” of “antagonistic activities occurring on campus by those claiming to be affiliated with the strike, including, but not limited to, classroom disruptions, vandalism, and violent altercations, particularly within the McConnell Engineering Building.”
Taylor stressed that those actions were not in the spirit of the motion ratified by SSMU membership and that the union was powerless to stop those who broke the student code of conduct. He said he is disappointed that SSMU is now being blamed despite calling for peaceful actions.
“They’re saying that it’s we are the proponents and the reasons why these things have happened. No, these things have occurred because students have asked for them. Students follow the process,” he said.
‘Collective punishment’
McGill has tried to crack down on pro-Palestinian protest activity on campus for over a year, which has led to accusations that the university suppresses free speech.
In November 2023, a Quebec court order halted the adoption of a pro-Palestinian policy by the SSMU. One month later, the university and SSMU revoked the McGill name from the student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR). The group was involved in protest activities on campus demanding the university divest from companies it says have ties to Israel’s military.
In spring 2024, an encampment was established on its downtown campus lawn and stayed in place for three months while two injunction requests were denied.
The students’ main demands were that McGill University cut ties with people, corporations and institutions that are “complicit in genocide, settler-colonialism, apartheid, or ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.”
SPHR called the McGill administration’s latest move a “collective punishment” and “attempts to distract from the fact that they are the ones investing in war.”
“McGill administration is making clear that if the student body overwhelmingly and democratically articulates its solidarity with Gaza and its commitment to divestment, then democracy is no longer to be respected,” SPHR said in a news release.
In her note, Campbell said she is “aware that some in our community have viewed McGill’s communications as conveying bias in favour of one group” and “take(s) these concerns seriously.”
“My goal is not to silence dissent, but to affirm that all students—whatever their identity or politics—deserve to live, learn, and express themselves on a campus free of fear, harassment, or violence, where their dignity is respected.”
Taylor said he believes McGill is misunderstanding the SSMU’s function. He said the university receives complaints from students who feel that the union does not represent them, “and they think that these complaints would then stop if the SSMU no longer made those positions” and remained apolitical.
However, Taylor said, broader geopolitical considerations like the war in Gaza are discussed at SSMU due to students’ participation.
“If all 24,000 students were participating, perhaps that wouldn’t be the case,” he said. Right now, the 3,600 or so students who are participating “are the ones that are really engaged or paying attention as to what’s happening.”
Taylor said the union is ready for mediation and will work with the university to resolve the conflict.
