A two-year-long commission examining relations between diverse student groups on campus released its report on Oct. 10, stirring up criticism about the recommendations it has made.
The report released by the Commission on Inter-Cultural, Inter-Religious and Inter-Racial Relations on Campus recommended increased support to Jewish and aboriginal members of the Carleton community.
The university formed the commission in 2010 “to draw up some recommendations that might strengthen Carleton’s already positive culture of respect,” according to commission chair Landon Pearson.
The commission surveyed students and faculty in November 2010 to gain insight into Carleton’s “climate of respect,” the report indicated.
The commission reported that aboriginal and Jewish respondents had expressed lower satisfaction with their treatment on campus. They conducted a follow-up survey of Jewish students, staff and faculty in 2011.
“The university community must acknowledge that some anti-Israel politics, activities and sentiments which occur on the Carleton campus are perceived as anti-Semitic, thus contributing to Jewish members of the Carleton community feeling less positive about the climate of respect at the university,” the commission report said.
They also noted concerns raised by aboriginal students who experienced racism in the classroom, resulting from a lack of understanding of indigenous cultures and realities.
The report recommended increasing faculty awareness of appropriate conduct, greater academic focus on indigenous issues, cultural competency training for faculty, and the establishment of a Jewish issues committee and aboriginal counselling services.
The commission relied on presentations by students, faculty and staff about their experiences on campus to support their findings.
Student and faculty reaction to the report was mixed.
Zane Colt, Carleton student and city-wide president of the Israel Awareness Committee commended the administration for their “bold” action.
“I think that this is a model for universities across Canada and North America, because Carleton isn’t the only one facing these issues,” he said. “It’s certainly putting Carleton on the map as a role model for schools taking responsibility for their student issues.”
Aviva Freedman, director of the Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies at Carleton, agreed with Colt.
“The campus, which should be a vibrant free market of ideas and debate, occasionally sees [anti-Israel] student activism, with some faculty involvement, around the subject of the conflict that sadly corrodes the free exchange of ideas,” Freedman said.Peter Gose, chair of the department of sociology and anthropology, questioned the statistical foundation of the report.“Many of us doubt that this is being generated by local conditions at Carleton . . . no such investigated and substantiated complaints [by students or faculty] are cited in this report,” Gose said.
Gose said the commission failed to distinguish between criticism of the Israeli state and anti-Semitism.“We don’t think that there’s anything inherent in being Jewish that obliges Jews to oppress Palestinians, to engage in these acts. This is behaviour, not identity,” Gose said.
He said support for Israel is an issue of politics, not of religious beliefs.
“I don’t conflate criticism of the Israeli state with anti-Semitism and I would hope that no one else does either,” Pearson said via email.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard Jewish students state that criticism of Israel is de facto anti-Semitism – it just doesn’t happen,” Freedman said.
Gose also commended the commission for their recognition of issues faced by aboriginal students.
Pitseolak Pfeifer, programming co-ordinator for the Aboriginal Service Centre, echoed Gose’s praise, but stopped short of a full endorsement of the report.“The recommendations were sound in the sense that the consultations were wide and varied throughout the aboriginal community . . . [The report] outlines what should be done, but it falls short in saying that dedicated resources should be made available in the budget,” he said.
“I’ve seen too many [instances] in the past where lip service is paid. I’m really hoping that the administration takes these issues seriously, and implements and identifies very quickly adequate resources,” Pfeifer said.
Pearson defended the work of the commission more broadly, reminding the Carleton community of its broader intentions in releasing the report.
“I remain convinced that all of us on the commission share a common commitment to improving the culture of respect for all members of our university community, a community that has been much enriched over the years by our culturally, religiously and racially diverse population,” Pearson said.
