Feds is currently holding two referenda. The first deals with an extension to the SLC and PAC to increase student space. The second, which happens to be taking the thunder away from the first one, is about whether Feds should take the stance that the university should sever ties with a number of Israeli institutions that are allegedly supporting atrocities against the Palestinian people. This referendum discusses something that should not be a student union issue, is opening a can of worms that could lead to more frivolous referenda, and is singling out a country for human rights violations when many other countries UW has an affiliation with do as well. What this will not focus on is anything related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, as that has been debated to death and is a complete waste of time to argue about.
The first reason that the referendum on severing ties with Israel should be voted down is that the whole idea of having Feds take a stance on this issue is completely ridiculous. Feds represents all students, and that includes students from Israel as well. By having a referendum that could lead to taking a stance on a specific country’s universities is implicitly discriminatory against those who come from that country. How would you feel if you attended a university in another country where the student union decided that the country should go to war with your homeland? You’d feel unsafe and not want to be there. This is exactly what this referendum is doing.
Furthermore, we should direct our student union to be focusing on issues that matter to all or a majority of students which are university related and not world politics related. Why aren’t we holding a referendum on where our student fees go, or whether we need more mental health counselors? These are issues that currently affect students attending our university. How does severing ties with institutions in another country directly affect undergraduate students besides closing opportunities for exchange, co-op, research, or diversity? At UW, students constantly complain that Feds doesn’t do anything, so why should we empower them to do something that is completely useless?
The second key argument against voting yes in this referendum is that allowing Feds to take a stance on this issue would set precedence for Feds taking stances on other trivial or political issues. For example, why wasn’t it an issue that the university had a campus in the UAE, a country known for many human rights violations, especially against women and the LGBT community? Why hasn’t Feds taken a stance on the university accepting a certain number of refugee students? It’s because these are not student issues: they are political issues. The federation should be representing students on student issues, not on foreign policy.
The last argument for voting no in this referendum is that it specifically singles out one country for human rights violations, when the university holds numerous research agreements with universities in other countries around the world that also have human rights violations. I want to name two countries in particular: Saudi Arabia and China.
Saudi Arabia has committed numerous human rights violations and is openly discriminatory against women, the LGBT community and many other minority groups. The country also has a terrible track record with freedom of the press, and has executed members of the press in the past.
China has also had a poor human rights record for many years. The way it handles Taiwan and Tibet is incredibly controversial. It is also a country that openly supports North Korea, a country that commits horribly atrocities against its own people.
The university has numerous research and exchange agreements with both Saudi Arabia and China. Why is it okay to keep ties with institutions in these two countries, when they have these human rights violations? That is because of academic freedom. Universities may exist in a country that commits human rights violations, violence, segregation and other atrocities, but they are not tied to the policies of that country.
Academic freedom is the reason why the university maintains ties with numerous institutions around the world in countries that the Canadian government has openly criticized, condemned and even sanctioned. Academic institutions do not follow the policies of the countries that they reside in. This is why we should not sever ties with Israeli institutions, no matter how their research is used. If we used that as logic, we should sever ties with ourselves because numerous professors on this campus have grant money with companies that manufacture weapons that may or may not end up in the hands of countries that may or may not commit human rights violations.
Lastly, I want to spend a bit of time discussing whether this referendum passing will actually accomplish anything the vote yes side proclaims, and its benefit on Waterloo undergraduate students. As discussed previously, academic institutions are not directly tied to the countries they reside in. If we take this line of reasoning to its conclusion, it is impossible to see how boycotting academic institutions will put pressure on a government. Second of all, this referendum is binding to Feds and only Feds. How this can benefit undergraduate students specifically has yet to be answered and, as mentioned previously, only alienates certain groups of students on campus.
Throughout all of the discussion on the topic, those for severing ties have been unable to answer the very simple question of “how does this benefit the majority of undergraduate students?” Arguments have been made that 4400 students signed the petition, but that is a small minority of the overall population. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see if that many students even vote for the referendum itself.
To conclude, the referendum on severing ties with Israeli universities for supposed complicity in human rights violations that Israel has been committing should fail. Feds should stay out of foreign politics and focus on issues that are actually affecting students. This referendum could potentially set precedence for Feds focusing on more non-student issues, and also completely ignores the fact that institutions are not tied to the countries that they reside in. Additionally, there is no conceivable way that severing ties with Israeli institutions will benefit the majority of undergraduate students at the university, and it serves to further the agenda of a small minority. Therefore, vote no when you go vote, and immediately move on to the other referendum that will actually have an impact on students.
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