Posters deemed to be hate-filled and Islamophobic were found on Memorial University’s Newfoundland campus (MUN) earlier this month, according to CBC.
Samantha Andrews, a marine biology PhD student at MUN, said she saw one of the posters and removed it.
“I was surprised at first, these things are not common here, but it’s common in Europe because of the rhetoric about immigration and Brexit,” she said.
Andrews said she was confused about whether it was free speech or hate speech. But, after reading what was written, she said she knew that it was hate speech because she encountered familiar Islamophobic language outside Canada.
“I was concerned about Muslim students seeing it and facing something like that. I was also concerned it might grow to something bigger. But, I was also pleased because the university responded quickly and checked if there were more posters around campus,” she added.
David Sorensen, the communications manager at MUN, said that these posters don’t reflect the values of MUN.
“The code of conduct outlines the expectations of the student behaviour and the respect of workplace policy,” he said.
Sorensen also said that MUN is still carrying out an investigation into who put up the posters and said it could have been be a student, a group of students, or people from the community at large.
He said the university has yet to decide whether it constitutes hate speech or not, and added that he is not sure if it is possible to stop these posters from being put up again.
“We just have to be vigilant about having a safe and respectful environment, and to promote that hate messages don’t have places on any campus, including MUN,” he said.
Reem Abu-Hendi, president of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) at MUN, said in an email that she personally never faced hardships being a Muslim student at MUN for the past four years because the university is known for its helpful staff and a friendly environment.
“My thoughts as a Muslim on campus is how ignorant and uneducated this individual is. And as an MSA member, I was concerned about the feelings of other Muslim students and whether they will feel unsafe on campus after this foolish act,” Abu-Hendi said.
She said that although this was the first reported incident of Islamophobia at MUN, the university has to know that Muslims are prone to similar hate messages because Islamophobia still exists among groups of students.
“I believe there has to be some work done to educate these individuals,” she said.
According to Abu-Hendi, the president of the university issued a statement condemning the act and assured students that MUN is a safe campus for everyone.
“[The] MSA along with other clubs and associations have been working on establishing regulations on how to deal with hate speech and we are hoping they consider implementing it,” Abu-Hendi said.
