To the University of Toronto Community:
On March 20, 2008, a group of over forty students and their allies staged a nonviolent sit-in at the University of Toronto’s Simcoe Hall to protest rising student fees. Nearly one month later, eleven students, two staff members working at the University, and one alumnus were charged and arrested for alleged forcible confinement, mischief to property, and forcible detainment. The fourteen were released on strict bail conditions. Initially, all were prevented from participating in any demonstration on campus. This condition was challenged by the accused and was found to be unconstitutional. Current bail conditions prevent the accused from communicating with one another, and the University administration has banned some from setting foot on university property via trespass orders.
The University of Toronto’s administration has disingenuously distanced itself from the trumped-up criminal charges and the restrictive bail conditions, relegating them instead to the exclusive purview of the Toronto Police, while continuing to press forward with Code of Student Conduct investigations against those same students. The twist is that the University administration threatened the students in question with investigation long before the Toronto Police did.
It is evident that the University of Toronto’s administration collaborated with Toronto Police in pressing charges against fourteen members of our university community. It is further evident that this move was taken to repress the expression of dissent at a time when the University administration is publicly and aggressively calling for the commercialization of student fees through deregulation. This repression is all the more striking given that the University’s own purpose statement indicates that
Within the unique university context, the most crucial of all human rights are the rights of
freedom of speech, academic freedom, and freedom of research. And we affirm that these rights
are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative
challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.
When the University of Toronto’s administration criminalizes the rights of students and activists to question and criticize University policies, their “rights of freedom of speech” are being violated. The University administration’s crackdown on the protests and on those allegedly involved therein directly contradicts its stated position on the fundamental rights of individuals to express dissent against those in power. The criminalization of activists is clearly an attempt at silencing the voices of dissidents and critics of the University administration’s policies on the commercialization of post-secondary education, and must be vehemently opposed.
We assert that this university exists as a space for critical dialogue only because of the participation of its students, workers, faculty members, alumni and other community members – and in particular we recognize those whose involvement goes unrecognized because they are not the ones with millions of dollars to donate. As faculty members at the University of Toronto, we express our dissent against the administration’s actions. The right to academic freedom is meaningless if the right to freedom of speech – and especially the right to speak truth to power – is being violated.
We call on the University of Toronto’s administration to immediately stop all proceedings against the students being investigated under the Code of Student Conduct and repeal the trespass orders. We further call on the University of Toronto’s administration to immediately express, clearly and unequivocally, that it has no interest in pursuing criminal charges in connection to this or any other peaceful protest.
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CC: David Naylor, President of the University of Toronto
Chris Bentley, Attorney General of the Province of Ontario
George Luste, President of the University of Toronto Faculty Association
Penni Stewart, President of the Canadian Association of University Teachers
