Pro-Palestinian policy voted on by McGill students will ‘sharpen divisions,’ university says

McGill students have voted in favour of a pro-Palestinian policy. The board of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) must approve it before it comes into effect.

In a vote Monday night, 78.7 per cent of the 8,401 students who participated voted in favour of the “policy against genocide in Palestine.”

McGill University tells CityNews in a statement the view of its senior administration remains that if adopted, the policy will “sharpen divisions in their community at a time when many students are already distressed.”

“McGill’s leadership team has been working diligently over the last weeks to keep our campus discourse safe and responsible and to put in place measures to support students and colleagues who feel especially vulnerable and hurt at this time, notably those who are Muslim, Jewish, and Arab,” the statement reads.

The university also says the SSMU would be in breach of its own constitution and will have violated its memorandum of agreement with McGill.

In an emailed statement to CityNews, SSMU says McGill has not been been clear about how the group would be in breach.

“We operate by mandate and if our mandate is to take a stand on this against McGill, that is what we will do,” president Alexandre Ashkir wrote.

“This policy will be sent to legal review before being presented to the Board for ratification, only at which point, if the Board votes to ratify, would the policy be in effect.”

Ashkir says the number of students who participated in the vote was higher than for the student protests in 2012.

“We value democracy and believe the voices of our members must be heard and respected; it is the highest turnout in recent memory, at least in the last decade,” he wrote.

McGill University says it has written to Ashkir to outline the consequences of adopting the policy.

B’nai Brith Canada has also taken legal action to try to stop the policy from being adopted.