'I get very nervous': Jewish student group feels targeted by a toolkit circulating at York University
Johanna Joseph says she feels nervous about wearing a necklace from her late grandmother when she goes to class at York University because it bears the symbol of the Star of David.
“One of the pendants was from my late grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor,” Joseph told CTV News Toronto in an interview. “Whenever I enter classrooms, I, you know, take it off. I get very nervous.”
Joseph is part of Hillel York, a Jewish student group that feels targeted at school after “A Toolkit for Teaching Palestine” started to circulate.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
CUPE Local 3903 published a 15-page toolkit for teaching assistants at York University to provide guidance on teaching and discussing Palestine in the classroom. In it, the union’s education committee breaks down why it calls for action, who should teach about Palestine (and how), as well as supports for members experiencing reprisals.
READ MORE: Group at York U calls for reinstatement of employees charged in Indigo defacement
“This toolkit reflects on our collective, moral and professional responsibility to speak, write and teach on Palestine in spite of the culture of fear that has dominated much of Western academic institutions,” the document reads.
The document asks its CUPE members to join the call for action from Jan. 21 through 28, and divert the week’s tutorials to focus on teaching Palestinian liberation and refuse “to abide by York University’s culture of repressive normalcy.”
In the toolkit, the union says York University is complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine due to its investments and “economic and academic relationships with various Zionist cultural institutions (e.g. Hillel) and Israeli universities (e.g. Hebrew University of Jerusalem), some of which are on UN-recognized illegally occupied Palestinian lands.”
“Being a Jewish student, this is one of the only places I do feel safe on campus, and the labelling and calling out makes it feel like Hillel kind of is a target now,” Jacob Berman said.
Dean Lavi, director of Hillel York, told CTV News Toronto more than a dozen students have since contacted him, expressing concerns their teaching assistants will mistreat them.
“They’re sitting there in the classroom, and the person who can grade them is the one telling them that what they’re saying is wrong and that their opinions don’t matter and that, you know, they’re in the wrong for existing as their whole selves,” Lavi said.
York University President Rhonda Lenton recently wrote in a letter that senior administration does not find CUPE 3903’s latest email containing the toolkit “to be in accordance with the rightful expectations of the students and the legitimate claims of the community.”
A student at York University in Toronto.
This is not the first time York University administration has issued a statement with regards to the Israel-Hamas war.
Shortly after Hamas' attacks on Oct. 7, the York Federation of Students, the York University Graduate Students Association and the Glendon College Students Union issued a joint statement appearing to call the move a “strong act of resistance” while reaffirming their solidarity with Palestinians.
York University “unequivocally” condemned the statement.
“Freedom of expression has limits and comes with responsibilities. It must never reach into promoting or justifying violence against unarmed civilians,” the university said then.
The university’s administration says the dialogue on world events inside the classroom should allow for diverse perspectives to be expressed, but added it should always be respectful.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
What is a 'halal mortgage'? Does it make housing more accessible?
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
Here's where Canadians are living abroad: report
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after return to New York from upstate prison
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
'We are declaring our readiness': No decision made yet as Poland declares it's ready to host nuclear weapons
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
Central Alberta queer groups react to request from Red Deer-South to reinstate Jennifer Johnson to UCP caucus
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.