The Carleton 4 Palestine Coalition has sent an open letter to Carleton University’s administration detailing censorship concerns toward graduating students who showed support for Palestine during spring convocation.
Shared to Instagram on July 19, the letter is addressed to Carleton University president Jerry Tomberlin, the Office of Risk Management and the Board of Governors.
The letter states that the university enforced censorship by instructing camera operators to move the camera away from students displaying Palestinian support, as well as by heavily increasing police and security presence during ceremonies.
“This year we saw the censorship of the keffiyeh,” the letter reads.
Carleton University did not respond to the Charlatan’s multiple requests for a statement regarding the open letter.
The live feed of convocation ceremonies allegedly cut to the announcer when students displayed a sign, flag or wore a keffiyeh. These live streams are uploaded to YouTube and Carleton’s convocation website.
According to Carleton’s regalia guidelines, “no additional regalia such as sashes, stoles, signs, pins, hats, sports team items, flags or any other external affiliations be displayed on the regalia during the convocation ceremony.”
The letter calls this year’s enforcement of the regalia policy “concerning.”
“Graduating students adorning other regalia walked across the stage without issue and were not cut out of the livestream,” the letter states. “It is evident that selective censorship was undertaken.”
In the letter, Carleton 4 Palestine shared three demands: answers for the decision-making process behind censoring students, an acknowledgement from university officials on the harms of censorship, and university policy amendments to prohibit this censorship from occurring during future convocations.
The letter claims the censorship disregards the university’s Freedom of Speech Policy, which reads, “faculty, students and staff are free to criticize, contest and condemn the views expressed on campus; At the same time, faculty, students and staff may not prevent, obstruct or interfere with the freedom of others to express their views.”
The coalition continues to highlight a significant increase in security during spring convocation. “This created a tense environment for graduates wishing to exercise their right to peaceful protest and clearly acted to instil fear within graduates.”
Four members of security personnel were stationed around the stage, according to the letter, along with marshals tasked with quasi-policing duties.
“These students have spent countless hours studying and thousands of dollars only to be frightened to cross the stage,” the letter states.
“The use of fear tactics to enforce censorship is gravely concerning and contributes to student sentiment that the Carleton University campus is over-policed.”
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
