Lawsuit alleges Concordia University, student union failed to address antisemitism on campus

A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed alleging Concordia University in Montreal and its student union failed to meaningfully address antisemitism on campus.

The lawsuit application seeks $15 million in damages for members of the proposed class, which includes Jewish students, faculty and staff currently at the school or who attended or worked there in the last three years.

Two Concordia students and one professor are leading the application, filed in Quebec Superior Court Thursday, and requesting anonymity in legal proceedings because they fear retaliation.

“We’re not surprised because this is happening more and more across North America as Jewish students at universities have had far too weak of a response to a wave of antisemitism that hit campuses right across the United States and Canada,” said Marvin Rotrand, National Director, League for Human Rights B’nai Brith Canada.

Examples of antisemitism on campus cited in the lawsuit include an altercation on Nov. 8 between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students on Concordia’s downtown campus that led to one arrest. Three people were injured.

Concordia University also reported – that same day – swastikas were found on campus and an online threat was made.

“We see this as an antisemitic riot which could have led to blood shed, fortunately it did not – although three people were injured. The perpetrators need to be expelled from the university, that’s the minimum. Concordia has to address the antisemitic issue far more robustly than they have to date,” Rotrand said.

This week – the university sent a letter to its community saying two people – who are not students – have been banned from campus. Adding the internal and external investigations are ongoing.

The lawsuit application alleges Concordia failed to investigate incidents of antisemitism and didn’t offer support to Jewish students targeted by those hateful acts, among other accusations.

Concordia says it does not comment on pending legal proceedings and the Concordia Student Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment. None of the accusations has been proven in court, and a judge will need to authorize the class action before it can move forward.

“There’s disruption of the ability of students to learn, there’s disruption of the sense of free speech on university when there’s intimidation and hate being spewed and when the university’s response isn’t even a slap on the wrist,” Rotrand added.

Montreal police say hate crimes have increased in the city. Numbers show 104 hate crimes and incidents against the Jewish community were reported between Oct. 7 and Nov. 14. And, 30 were reported against the Muslim community during the same time. Jewish schools were hit by gunshots on three occasions, a synagogue and Jewish organizations office were also hit with Molotov cocktails. No one was injured in the incidents.

“That speaks volumes. The Jewish community is not that large in the Greater Montreal Area yet they were definitely targeted. Unfortunately, the numbers are not broken down – whether they happened at rallies in the streets or on campuses – but it’s worrisome,” Rotrand added.

He said B’nai Brith Canada heard concerns from community members across the country.

“We’ve heard from students from almost every university campus. We have written to so many university presidents in the last month – some of them have responded – others have just acknowledged our letters. Very few of them have put a plan into place to try to deal with antisemitism on campus. The problem persists,” Rotrand concluded.

With files from The Canadian Press