Dear Waterloo communities,
I’m writing today to share more information about the University’s approach to communicating with the members of our community who have come together to form an encampment outside the Grad House on main campus.
This group of students and community members has questions related to how the University manages its institutional investments and how we evaluate international partnerships related specifically to Israeli institutions and companies.
I’d like to reiterate our commitment to supporting the right to speak and assemble freely on our campuses. The mission of any University is to advance learning and knowledge through teaching, research, and scholarship. This is not possible unless there is an environment of free expression and free inquiry.
The right to free speech, however, is not absolute. There are limits which can be placed on this right to protect other rights, and important University values. Hate speech, threats, and other discriminatory language or behaviour are unacceptable. Unduly interfering with the study, work or working environment of members of the University or any aspect of another person’s University activity will also not be tolerated.
There is no one single policy covering the entire scope of potential contingencies involving freedom of expression at Waterloo. A set of interacting policies support and inform how we protect these fundamental rights. We have shared a list of prohibited activities based on these policies on our freedom of expression website.
I appreciate that the protestors have to date remained peaceful and courteous with other members of the community. However, we have heard that the nature of some of the signage surrounding the encampment has caused many community members to feel targeted, and that their own rights are being infringed.
We are clear: the encampment cannot remain indefinitely. It is already in breach of several of our prohibited activities.
If the encampment becomes unsafe, or if it begins to impede normal University operations it will not be allowed to remain. For now, normal operations on campus continue to be possible, including the Grad House, which remains open. We continue to monitor the physical safety of the situation.
Creating dialogue to end the encampment
The University’s approach to communicating with the members of our community gathered at the encampment seeks to balance their rights to assemble and speak freely, and the rights of those who are not engaging in this protest to have an uninterrupted campus experience.
Practically speaking, this means that senior leaders intend to remain in dialogue with the organizers of the protest to ensure that the encampment remains safe for everyone on the campus and that we can maintain the normal operations of the University while the encampment is in place.
Our goal during this period of dialogue is to engage productively to:
- discuss the concerns that the protestors have raised,
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to reach an amicable and peaceful conclusion to this encampment, and
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to continue productive dialogue on the substantive issues long after the encampment ends.
As an institute of higher learning, we believe we have an opportunity to model what good faith discussions should look like and remain committed to learning from one another throughout this process.
Continuing our existing work on the issues raised
The encampment is not the start of dialogue between the University and those who are protesting. The University has, for many months, been engaging with members of groups on campus who feel particularly affected by the conflict in the Middle East to hear their concerns and to address them in a meaningful way.
In November, I had the opportunity to sit down with groups of Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish students to hear from them how the conflict is touching them here at Waterloo – a conversation I very much appreciated. Senior leaders have continued dialogue with various groups on campus since then, including with the Muslim Students Association and Hillel Waterloo & Laurier.
A student who is now a member of the current encampment requested and was granted an opportunity to address both the Board of Governors and Senate at their recent meetings. Prior to the encampment, the Chair of our Board had also arranged to meet representatives from the protest movement to continue this conversation.
Because our students and faculty have been undertaking this meaningful engagement, the University had already made commitments to addressing the important questions this encampment is asking.
The University has committed to considering the issues raised regarding investments at both the Finance & Investment committee and the Pension Investment committee of the Board of Governors. It’s important to note that when it comes to how investment decisions are made, the Board has legal and fiduciary responsibilities that guide this work.
The University of Waterloo has a history of change leadership when it comes to reviewing how its investments are governed. The process by which the University committed to reducing the carbon footprint of our investments, announced in 2021, has laid the foundation for how we apply a responsible investment lens to our investment decisions. That process involved a thorough and inclusive deliberative process that engaged a broad cross-section of our community to ensure that a range of perspectives were considered.
In 2022, the University adopted a Responsible Investment Policy which lays out our approach to integrating an environmental, social and governance (ESG) lens at every stage of investing. Our investment policy documents for the pension and our endowment funds are reviewed annually including the opportunity to consider updates to ESG priorities of focus.
An update on this commitment and how we will approach these issues will be provided at our June meeting of the Board of Governors.
The University will also consult on and develop guidelines on how we decide which institutional partnerships we will enter into. This work will be informed by our recently developed values, which will be considered by the Board in June and the outcomes of the Taskforce on Free Expression, which is set to report in the coming months. It will include focus groups with campus community members particularly affected by partnership decisions. The new guidelines produced by the federal government regarding research security at Canadian institutions will be incorporated into the development of this set of guidelines, as will ESG considerations.
Change movements need time and stakeholder input
It’s important to note that while this work is already underway, the timeline for making decisions about University investing policies and partnership agreements will take much longer than the timeline that those protesting are asking for. We operate through a collegial, shared governance model which lays out the processes by which change must happen.
For some context, previous calls for change to university positions on investments and partnerships – here at Waterloo and at institutions across Ontario and Canada – have taken significant time to move from advocacy to policy. In all instances, student-led advocacy played an important role in bringing the issues into public awareness.
This context serves to underline the complexity of our decision processes; the decisions we make today will impact the institution for years and decades to come and therefore require time and feedback from stakeholders. This is particularly important when we face issues – like the ones in front of us now – for which members of our community have many different perspectives. Though institutions are not unchangeable, change takes time. It also needs input from all the stakeholders we serve.
I am committed to working with our Board of Governors and with other senior University administrators to honestly address the questions that are being raised by our community members who are sharing their views. I am also committed to ensuring that our campuses remain spaces where everyone, including those whose views are in direct conflict with the encampment movement feel safe and welcome.
Please continue to centre those who are affected by the terrible violence of this conflict when you speak out and to be mindful of the impact of your words. Please continue to check in on each other and to support each other.
Sincerely,
Vivek Goel