Ontario Tech University reaches agreement with campus protesters
Ontario Tech University has become the first educational institution in Canada to compromise with on-campus protesters, vowing not to invest in certain companies.
Administrators and organizers in the Oshawa-based school said that the agreement will bring an end to protests and that investments connected to Israel's military will end.
The school said in its statement that it is not aware of any investments in any companies that are benefiting from the war in Gaza.
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“We worked with students to address their humanitarian support requests and subsequently reached an agreement. The encampment will be dismantled on May 20, 2024,” the university said in a statement. “We were able to reach an agreement with our students by establishing a Presidential Advisory Committee, primarily composed of diverse students, to explore the development of responsible investment practices.”
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The school is the first major institution to reach an agreement with campus protesters. Waddah Saleh, an organizer for the protest, said that the university was open to dialogue with students.
“I think the one thing that really kept us going was the scenes and the videos and the stories of what we hear coming out of Gaza of what’s happening to civilians, the citizens, the children,” said Saleh to CTV News. “You see this and you wonder what can we do?”
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The university also said that it would fund three undergraduate scholarships for Palestinians displaced by the war starting in the fall semester. The school also said that students or staff who took part in the campus protest would be protected from "academic and/or employment-based retaliation."
