Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council passed a motion supporting socially responsible investment at a Feb. 17 meeting rocked by rowdy student protesters, intentionally derailing a student motion.
The motion, introduced by CUSA vice-president (finance) Meera Chander, called for the divestment of university pension plans from companies who were profiting from violations of international law and illegal occupation.
After the motion passed, council chair Brett Farrington ruled the second motion, introduced by members of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), was redundant.
This is because it also dealt with socially responsible investment. SAIA’s motion called for Carleton to divest an estimated $2.6 million of its pension fund from five specific companies it claims are connected to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Chander’s “watered-down” motion was introduced first for the sole purpose of ruling SAIA’s out of order, according to CUSA vice-president (student issues) Sam Heaton.
“The [CUSA] motion was kind of piggy-backing on the work done by SAIA’s divestment campaign for the past year or so and everybody knew that,” Heaton said. “The reason the motion was put forward was so . . . the chair would have an excuse to rule SAIA’s motion out of order so it would not be discussed on the floor.”
Heaton said CUSA executives, staff and Farrington came up with the plan in the days prior to the meeting.
“I was not willing to go along with it because it’s a very naked effort simply to silence students . . . and take away the members’ ability to submit a motion and have it heard, which is an essential part of how CUSA has to operate,” Heaton said.
“We stand by our comments and motivations,” CUSA president Alex Sirois said via email, refusing to comment on the specifics of the meeting or the motion.
Several hundred students who were waiting outside the council room began yelling when they learned SAIA’s motion would go unheard.
“People are upset because CUSA is supposed to represent them and they responded in a way that did not,” said SAIA member Reem Bushaisi. “CUSA was not being democratic, and things got out of hand.”
She said while SAIA is excited CUSA supports ethical divestment, they were disappointed they didn’t get the chance to discuss the second motion, which the campus group had been working on since September.
However, pro-Israel students said they felt harassed and intimidated by SAIA’s rally. “When the meeting did conclude, we had people yelling ‘shame’ at us and elevators and fire exits were blocked. I think it was very inappropriate for them to take this kind of action,” third-year engineering student and CUSA councillor Andrew Post said.
“It wasn’t chaotic; it was the spirit of the moment,” Bushaisi said.
“I thought the rally was great, lots of chanting,” said law professor Trevor Purvis. “I was really upset with the way the council basically hijacked the event and did so very clearly to shut out the people who . . . wanted their voices heard.”
Director of student affairs Ryan Flannagan, who was also in attendance, said he didn’t feel anyone’s safety was in jeopardy, though he called the atmosphere “loud.”
Student senator and Israeli Awareness Committee (IAC) member Emile Scheffel was one of 21 students who signed a letter calling on the university to take action to ensure proper conduct is met at future meetings.
“If SAIA organizes a rally, then they need to take responsibility for who was at the rally and take responsibility for those actions,” Scheffel said.
“For me, it’s a question of SAIA saying this is about ethical investment, but yet they are condemning the entire context of Israel.”
“I signed the letter because the bullying tactics I saw used by SAIA were unacceptable,” said fellow signatory and third-year public affairs and policy management student Chris Thompson.
Bushaisi said SAIA will approach Carleton’s Board of Governors at the end of March with the support of clubs and staff who are beneficiaries of the pension.
