October 8, 2024
Re: Decertification of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill
To: President Deep Saini
CC’d: McGill Board of Governors; SSMU Board of Directors; FHSS Board of Directors; SPHR McGill
For a year, the government of Israel has pursued a campaign against the Palestinians of Gaza that Amnesty International has indicated is genocidal. Since October 7, 2023, as a consequence of Israel’s bombardment, ground invasion, and siege, research in The Lancet suggests that “it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.” As many as 1.2 million people have been displaced, at least 131,000 housing units have been destroyed, and the UN indicates that much of Gaza is at imminent risk of famine. All of Gaza’s universities have been destroyed, raising concerns amongst the global scholarly community of a ‘scholasticide’.
Amidst all this, McGill University continues to wage an unrelenting campaign against students organizing to bring an end to the genocide.
On September 17, 2024, the Montreal Gazette reported that the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) had decertified the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill club. As reported, the SSMU arrived at this decision under extreme duress imposed upon them by McGill’s administration. The Board of Directors for the SSMU alleges that McGill refused to remit all student fees collected by the university on behalf of the SSMU, until such time as the SSMU decertified SPHR McGill.
Without access to these monies—of which McGill is only ever meant to be a temporary caretaker—the entirety of the SSMU’s operations were threatened. The administration’s actions risked the inoperability of such vital SSMU services as: Walksafe, Drivesafe, the Students’ Nightline, the Peer Support Centre, the Students’ Emergency Response Team, the Sexual Assault Centre, and many other core services. It is notable, under such duress, that the SSMU ultimately came to a split decision to decertify SPHR McGill. No doubt, this split emerged over differing answers to a question that McGill had no right to pose: chose between your solidarity or your basic life-saving services.
The Society for Socialist Studies stands in solidarity with SPHR—just as we have stood for months with the student movement to end the genocide. We demand that McGill uphold the rights to freedom of expression and association/assembly due to SPHR McGill, as well as the academic freedom of students. We demand that McGill’s administration issue a formal apology to SPHR McGill and the SSMU, and that the administration formally rescind its demand for decertification. We further call upon the Board of Directors for the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences to convey its solidarity with SPHR McGill directly to President Saini. In light of the debacle that was Congress 2024, the Federation cannot sidestep its obligations to work toward an inclusive and democratic society.
As a show of our solidarity, the Society for Socialist Studies will make a financial contribution directly to SPHR McGill. We will also be forwarding this letter on to other scholarly associations.
Sincerely,
M. Fridell
Executive of The Society for Socialist Studies (2024-2025)