Despite multiple contentious referendum questions students turned out to discuss Feb. 5 with the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) constitution and policy committee, the room was fairly calm until the issue of divestment was raised.
The idea of a socially responsible investment policy has been at the top of the agenda for campus group Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA). The group has long been asking Carleton to divest from companies they say are connected with the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The proposed referendum question asks “Do you support Carleton University adopting a binding socially responsible investment policy that would require it to divest from companies complicit in illegal military occupations and other violations of international law, including but not limited to: BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Motorola, and Tesco Supermarkets?”
However, the controversy was less about the question itself and more about a reference a student made to terrorists.
The student, who will not be named because he said he has received death threats, acknowledged making a remark in a conversation with his friend. He withdrew it with an apology later in the meeting.
The student told the Charlatan he was simply referring to the situation in the Middle East in a conversation with his friend.
“I said, ‘Yup, there are terrorist organizations in Palestine, and corporations not only invest in Israel and the Israeli government to supply weapons or other material, but there are corporations out there who invest in terrorist organizations that are in Palestine,'” he said.
He said at that point, a student screamed at him that he was a racist and “the room exploded.”
Those present gave widely different versions of what he said.
“He didn’t call anyone a terrorist,” said Kurtis Schlueter, who was sitting beside the student at the time. “He said there are certain organizations that invest in terrorist groups and then he was threatened with assault.”
Others said the comment seemed to take in Palestinian and other Middle Eastern students more broadly.
“It was an ethnic slur against the Palestinian students that are here and it should not be tolerated,” said attendee Taylor Eby.
The student momentarily left the room. Upon his return, he apologized to those in attendance.
“I apologize for anything that may have offended you. I take it back, I will hold my opinions to myself,” he said.
He said his comments were taken out of context.
“I thought it was totally taken out of context and I feel as though I was treated unfairly. And there’s people now on campus that refer to myself as “the racist,” which is I find, disgusting and totally inaccurate.”
Despite the apology, CUSA vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman said the CUSA “safe space” policy had been violated and asked the student to leave voluntarily. He did not, but he was eventually escorted out, yelling, by campus safety.
Norman said it was unfortunate the student had to be escorted out of the meeting.
“But realistically, those comments should not have been made in the first place and whether or not he meant to offend, he did offend so there are consequences,” Norman said.
Following his removal, the meeting continued for an additional two hours with no disturbances.
The referendum questions passed by the C & P committee, including the divestment one, will be discussed and voted on at the next CUSA council meeting before they are then presented to students for a vote sometime in March.
Overall, Norman said she felt the meeting went well.
“This was reflective of the student body because the meeting was so well attended,” she said, adding that with the exception of the disturbance during the divestment question she “was pretty happy with how the meeting went.”
