On August 8, four McGill unions published an open letter condemning the university’s notice of default of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group’s (QPIRG) Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with McGill. The notice threatens QPIRG’s student funding if they do not cease their support for the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights organization (SPHR). In response, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), the Association of McGill University Research Employees (AMURE), and the Association of McGill Professors in the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA) have called on the McGill administration to retract the notice and respect its obligations to QPIRG under the MoA.
In the notice of default issued this past January, McGill claims that by supporting SPHR, QPIRG has broken its obligation to respect McGill policies, including the Student Code of Conduct, as stipulated in the MoA. By associating with a group that has broken this code, the university is accusing QPIRG of failing to meet their obligations by association.
To remedy QPIRG’s alleged violation of McGill’s policies, McGill ordered the organization to cease all association with SPHR. This entails removing mentions of the group on QPIRG’s website, revoking their working group status, and severing all financial and administrative support. If QPIRG does not redact their support for SPHR, the group’s finances will be placed into an interim trust – where the funds will be managed by McGill as an interim trustee – until the organization is “restructured and reinstated.”
The group plans to contest the notice and take the dispute to arbitration, a conflict resolution less formal than legal litigation. But as a small, student-funded organization, QPIRG is being financially burdened by legal fees.
SPHR was condemned by McGill administration in the January notice as an organization that promotes “intimidation, harassment, and protest activities [resulting] in vandalism and violence on our campus.” In QPIRG’s statement on the update on the MoA with McGill, they maintain that the “spurious” allegations against SPHR have never been proven in a court of law.
“Neither a court nor even an internal tribunal of McGill has found SPHR in violation of anything,” they write. “Instead, the university is scapegoating SPHR for the actions of individuals that McGill has failed to identify.”
Four of McGill’s unions, in solidarity with QPIRG, “condemn in the strongest possible terms” McGill’s notice of default, as expressed in their August open letter. They stress that QPIRG is an invaluable resource to students and staff at the university, and that its financial jeopardy poses a serious threat to many programs and initiatives that benefit the community.
The unions express their concern for the “imminent threat” posed to QPIRG’s organizational autonomy, asserting that “any conduct that intimidates and threatens to dismantle a vibrant, positive student-centred campus organization is unwarranted.” The letter concludes by calling on the McGill administration to retract the notice and by underlining unions’ commitment to donate to QPIRG’S Legal Defense Fund.
The statement was signed by the executive committees of AGSEM, AMUSE, AMPFA, and AMUSE. The aforementioned unions represent a range of McGill’s staff – from research employees to tenured professors – and amass a total membership of 7,000.
At the time of writing, McGill communications has not responded to the Daily’s request for a written statement on the open letter.
QPIRG was founded in the 1990s as a student-run and student-funded organization. They have provided free services to the McGill community, including “conflict resolution training, education on structural oppression, and other invaluable community resources.” They also run a textbook loan program, fund summer research projects, and founded the university’s first student housing co-op. They empower students to take action by funding and supporting over 15 social and environmental justice groups, including SPHR.
“If QPIRG-McGill capitulates to McGill immediately, we would block off one of the last avenues for pro-Palestinian organizing on campus,” QPIRG wrote in their online statement. “But if we contest until they bankrupt us, students will lose one of the independent voices willing to fight for them on campus.”
In an interview with the Daily, co-president of AGSEM Dallas Jokic stressed that McGill’s actions raise concerns for students’ freedoms of speech and expression. Jokic states that the unions decided to publish the letter as a response to “McGill’s egregious overreach.”
“Because of how small QPIRG is, they are totally dependent on the MoA – if it’s destroyed, they can’t operate…McGill has money for lawyers, an organization like QPIRG is too small.”
“The reason we worked on putting this letter together is because McGill’s action fits into a broader pattern of how they’ve been approaching Palestine solidarity at McGill,” Jokic said.
Jokic expressed that the unions have shared a sentiment that the university has been reaching against free speech, and are concerned with how McGill is affecting student rights on campus. The letter of default raises concerns for AGSEM, potentially setting a precedent for how McGill will deal with future pushback.
Jokic also stressed that this is a broader question of students’ rights to organize, intervene, and speak freely – echoing QPIRG’s statement that the letter “is merely another attempt by McGill to suppress student activism towards divestment by removing pillars of material support for activists on the ground.”
“It is so striking to see how much money they are putting into legal costs to fight Palestinian speech and action,” Jokic added, referencing the budget cuts McGill has proposed in recent months. “It is unfortunate that that money, which could go to so many things, is instead going to these lawsuits, injunctions, proceedings, and legal actions.”
Jokic expressed hope that “McGill will take a chance to step back and reconsider the resources they are putting into suppressing pro-Palestinian speech.” They hope McGill changes course and becomes more responsive to the “demands of workers and students instead of using legal tools to suppress their voices.”
QPIRG hopes to remain a voice for various forms of advocacy on campus – including groups in solidarity with Palestine – and will continue their attempts to source funding for legal support.
“Only through support from the community will we have a real chance of fighting and winning,” QPIRG expresses in its written statement. The four unions will continue to support QPIRG as they “defend their organizational autonomy” and strive to “serve their community-based mandate without undue interference.”
Amidst criticism, SPHR continues to advocate for McGill’s divestment from weapons manufactures. In a June Instagram post, they stated that McGill invests seven million dollars annually into weapons enabling the “industrialized slaughter of innocent civilians” in Palestine by funding companies manufacturing F-35 bombers. The organization reiterates that they will not cease resisting until McGill divests fully from “all weapons complicit in genocide and occupation.”
For now, it is uncertain whether QPIRG will garner the support needed to challenge McGill in a court of arbitration, or whether the university will continue to move forward with their claims. As QPIRG writes, “the outcome of this battle will have a significant effect on activism at large in the community.”