On behalf of the UOIT Faculty Association, we would like to extend our commendation on the agreement reached between Ontario Tech University and the pro-Palestinian student encampment protesters.
We would like to express our gratitude to the student protesters who reminded us of the importance of peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and speaking out on matters of critical importance on our campus. We would also like to recognize the many faculty members who have stood alongside them and also exercised their rights of peaceful protest, academic freedom, and freedom of expression. We honour the commitment and determination of protesters to achieve this outcome.
We would also like to extend our appreciation to the University for not only hearing these important voices, but also for its willingness to enter into an agreement to begin addressing these issues and concerns on our campus. We remain committed to working with the University on critical matters such as the academic freedom of Faculty Members and rejecting any discrimination based on nationality and other code-protected grounds.
It is vital to acknowledge the profound personal connections some members of our campus community have to these issues. Our thoughts and sympathies are with those who have lost loved ones due to ongoing global conflicts and war. It is our sincere hope that we can all demonstrate kindness, humanity, and compassion to each other on our campus during these incredibly difficult times, and that peace can be realized for our entire global community.
We hope that other University administrators will follow this lead and enter into good faith negotiations that will realize an agreement acceptable to all parties on their campuses, as we each work locally in the interests of achieving greater global justice.