McMaster offers to meet with students about investments — only when pro-Palestinian encampment ends

McMaster University says its chief financial officer would meet with student groups to discuss the school's investment strategy and consider ways to make things more transparent — but only after the student-led, pro-Palestinian encampment on campus ends.

That's an offer that the two student groups leading the encampment quickly rejected.

McMaster President David Farrar posted a message including that offer and others to the school's website Thursday.

Farrar's message said when the encampment ends, McMaster will:

• Arrange a meeting with the chief financial officer to share more information about McMaster's investment strategy.
• Initiate a discussion with the chief financial officer and other university leaders to consider recommendations to increase the transparency of McMaster's investments.
• Create a new process so groups or individuals with concerns about McMaster's investment approach have a clear pathway to share their views with the university's financial leadership.
• Ask the university's International Strategy Advisory Group to develop a framework for human rights considerations in international agreements. The first meeting to discuss this issue is to occur before the end of May.

"It has now been more than 11 days since the encampment began at McMaster. This time has not been easy for anyone involved, and we recognize the need to address the issues raised," reads his message.

"Those participating in the encampment have made a number of demands and I believe it is important that the university's positions are provided to the entire community."

In a response posted to their Instagram pages late Thursday night, McMaster Apartheid Divest Coalition and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McMaster said the offer from Farrar provided "no commitments" and continued to "ignore his student's demands."

The post said, "Before the encampment, the university had seven months to discuss the concerns they now wish to address after the encampment ends. McMaster had the opportunity and continuously delayed taking concrete steps towards the students' demands — a trend they are yet again repeating with this letter."

Farrar's message added that tuition doesn't fund the school's investment pool and the companies identified in the movement to divest account for "less than one-tenth of one per cent" of the total pool. The student-led encampment has said the school has ties with groups implicated in human rights violations and war profiteering.

CBC asked McMaster for a dollar figure, but the school didn't immediately provide one.

Farrar's letter also said McMaster has brought in extra help at its student wellness centre for Palestinian students and also has programs and bursaries to support academics and students in areas of conflict.

CBC Hamilton contacted McMaster for an interview but the school declined — as it has every other time CBC has asked for an interview since the encampment formed on May 5.

CBC Hamilton also contacted the student-led encampment at McMaster for its response, but didn't immediately receive one.

The student groups said they hoped Farrar's plan would be "reflective of the university's commitment to equitably prioritizing human rights, taking a principled stance against genocide and the occupation of an Indigenous people."

In their post late Thursday night, the groups said "Once the university chooses humanity and is willing to implement a real plan of action, we await a productive meeting with the President and the Provost to discuss concrete commitments towards human rights for all."

The encampment continues to draw attention to the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since early October, according to health officials in Gaza. 

While the health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its death tolls, it says the majority of the dead have been women and children. 

The humanitarian follows the Israeli military's response to an attack on Oct. 7 that was launched by Hamas and other militants. In that attack, 1,200 people were killed, including several Canadian citizens. Hamas also took more than 250 people hostage. It still holds some 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30.

150 signatories on faculty letter in support of students

Farrar's message comes as a growing number of signatories add their names to a letter from McMaster faculty members in support of the student-led protest.

By Thursday afternoon, six days after the letter was published, there were 151 signatures.

The letter to the school's leadership states faculty members "stand in solidarity" with "students demonstrating tremendous courage and an unwavering pursuit of justice in their demands that McMaster University immediately cease financial investments and academic collaborations with Israel."

"As faculty, we find it reprehensible that McMaster University would support any economic or academic liaison with Israel, given its blatant disregard for Palestinian lives."

The letter ends with a list of five demands:

1. Immediately divest and end partnerships with companies involved in Israeli human rights violations and settler colonial violence.
2. Undergo an external auditing process to assess the extent of the University's financial involvement in corporations that profit from or participate in human rights violations, particularly the state of Israel's apartheid regime.
3. Terminate its research collaborations and partnerships with Israeli institutions implicated in human rights violations and war.
4. Place the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association definition of Anti-Palestinian racism within its institutional framework to support Palestinian students and their allies in their identities and advocacy.
5. Reject the attempted suppression of pro-Palestinian speech and narratives.

These are mostly in line with the demands from students at the encampment.

Students have also called on the school to declare Israel's bombardment a genocide.

'Why are we waiting?'

Some of the signatories, like clinical professor of medicine Dr. Aliya Khan, have been at the encampment and were listed as speaking to demonstrators.

Khan told CBC Hamilton the school should not wait until the encampment ends to proceed with plans to talk to the chief financial officer, among other things.

"Why are we waiting?" she said, adding that she signed the letter after seeing Israel's continued bombardment of Gaza.

"We need to see an end to this."

WATCH: Campus encampments: Freedom of expression or trespassing?

Campus encampments: Freedom of expression or trespassing?

7 months ago

Duration 4:50

As pro-Palestinian encampments pop up on university campuses across Canada, there's a renewed focus on freedom of expression.

While Khan said McMaster needs to act immediately, she also commended the school for being supportive of people's freedom of expression, right to protest and naming anti-Palestinian racism.

Yaser Haddara, a McMaster engineering faculty member, was at the encampment when it first formed.

"It matters because it's a stand for justice," he previously said. "I'm going to support them as long as they're here."

Haddara said he wasn't worried about facing consequences for his participation.

"McMaster leadership, so far, has dealt with student protests in a reasonable manner and affirmed the students' right to express themselves," he said.

"I have every hope that will continue and the university will negotiate with the students practical and concrete steps to meet their demands."