One year after Oct. 7, 2023, Carleton University is consistently falling short on its responsibility to protect Jewish and Palestinian students.
To regain the trust of vulnerable student communities, Carleton must prioritize open and accountable communication.
For example, when Carleton closed its academic quad over the summer, the university insisted it was strictly for maintenance purposes.
It was months before president Jerry Tomberlin admitted the decision was in part to prevent a pro-Palestine sit-in, adding he would make “no apologies” for the move.
When Carleton fails to communicate the motives driving its policies, it undermines students’ trust in all university judgments.
Instead of leaving students in the dark, the university should provide more frequent, accessible updates on its decision making and answer specific questions from student groups and media.
The university has also demonstrated some progress by making space for events like journalist Pacinthe Mattar’s talk on press freedom and Palestine.
Those events are a step in the right direction, but they remain few and far between.
Carleton’s campus should be a place for academic freedom and healthy discourse, and it’s critical that conversations about Israel and Palestine aren’t confined to social media forums and off-campus events.
The university must make more space for thoughtful educational events platforming Jewish and Palestinian voices.
Finally, Carleton should follow the lead of institutions like the University of Toronto to create personal safety and wellness resources specific to Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students.
Supports like those available at U of T convey a commitment to cultural sensitivity and an understanding that students from these communities are facing extraordinary hardship.
If Carleton hopes to prevent friction between Jewish and Palestinian students on campus, it must prioritize accountable communication, healthy discourse and support for marginalized students.
Should the university continue to fall short at these tasks, it risks heightening tensions and shutting down conversation at a time when antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism are already rising.
Featured graphic from files.
UPDATE: Originally, this article referenced Independent Jewish Voices Carleton’s “Silenced by Scholasticide” exhibition, which Carleton has since cancelled. This article was last updated on Oct. 7, 2024.
