Outside of a locked and guarded Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, a group of pro-Palestinian UBC community members held a “noise rally” yesterday — aiming to disrupt the concurrent Board of Governors (BoG) meeting and encourage UBC’s highest governing body to divest from corporations complicit in the occupation of Palestine and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions.
Organized by Palestine Solidarity Action, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Apartheid Free UBC, Grad Students 4 Palestine and the Social Justice Centre, the rally was advertised as a “low-risk action with music, crafts, food, education and chanting — a great introduction to activism.”
A small group of protesters began gathering outside of the Alumni Centre before 9 a.m. Tents, microphones and speakers were set up, and chalk messages were scrawled on the ground. As the morning progressed, approximately 30 protesters gathered, while several police and campus security officers watched from inside the building. Three RCMP vehicles were stationed adjacent to the plaza where the protest was held.
Poster boards with painted messages of “Stop Arming Israel” and “UBC Must Divest” surrounded a makeshift stage and printed photos of governors, including President Benoit-Antoine Bacon, with the words “Complicit in Genocide” splayed across their faces were taped onto the glass walls of the Alumni Centre.
While the board met, nine members of the Thunderbird Marching Band accompanied chants and led a small march around campus’s Main Mall.
In a message to The Ubyssey, Samantha Chan — co-president of the marching band — said the band has recognized “this invitation as an opportunity to support a cause we stand behind utilizing our strengths — our music.” Chen described the marching band as a group that cares “about having our stance on an apartheid-free campus heard.”
Nathan Herrington, a UBC employee and activist with pro-Palestinian groups on campus, said that university administration fails to recognize the impact of Palestinian issues on community members. UBC “should care about our international community and be a global leader,” he said in a speech to the crowd. “Your community has told you loud and clear [to] cut ties with apartheid now.”
Herrington said that the university claims to maintain academic neutrality, but by upholding ties with “universities that uphold apartheid,” UBC is not staying neutral on moral affairs.
UBC’s pro-Palestinian groups have struggled to get attention and recognition from UBC’s governing bodies, with the AMS’s endorsement of a referendum to advocate that UBC cuts ties with Israeli universities as a notable exception — and achievement.
Students passed the referendum in early March, which requires the AMS to send a letter to UBC’s Senate urging the university to end these connections with Israeli universities said to uphold apartheid. Over 8,800 students voted in favour of the referendum — the highest voter count out of the four referendums on the ballot.
“Why does UBC still have links to Israeli apartheid? … If they do not change, if they continue to ignore the will of the students, we will give them no peace and no quiet,” said one speaker. “Today, we are here to make as much noise as we can so the institution cannot look away, cannot cover its ears.”
At the end of the meeting’s open session, Governors devoted a few minutes to responsible investment, and were told by Finance Committee Chair Byron Thom and VP Finance Frank Laezza that the ‘S’ aspect of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles continues to be developed into UBC Investment Management’s responsible investment policy.
Laezza also told Governors that the university had retained responsible investment expert Margaret Childe starting in February.
In January, UBCIM promoted a “primer” report it commissioned from the Shareholder Association for Research and Education on the issue of “social risks.” In a press release from the time, UBCIM CEO Dawn Jia said the conversation around those risks is “still nascent” and makes things complicated for institutions like UBC that use external investment managers. “However,” the CEO said, “given the importance of these issues for all of us — and in particular the university community we serve — we decided to work with SHARE to help move this process forward to not only better educate ourselves, but to assist our peers in Canada as well.”
Thom told the Board that the Responsible Investment Working Group has a meeting “in the next few weeks” and an updated responsible investing policy will eventually come before the UBCIM board — but didn’t commit to a date.
Governor Irene Lazinger said responsible investment would be a worthwhile subject for a board member learning session. Thom and Board Chair Miranda Lam both indicated such a session was en route.
On the outside, chants of “free, free Palestine,” “BoG, your hands are red, 80,000 people dead” and a pastiche version of “Which Side Are You On?” — a union protest song — could be heard, with AMS VP External Solomon Yi-Kieran accompanying on vocals that echoed both outside and inside the Alumni Centre.
Yi-Kieran said they were not representing the AMS or anyone other than themself. “All I’m going to say is, free, free Palestine.”
As well, protesters split open an “apartheid piñata” — a grey, rectangular piñata meant to resemble a wall that the coalition groups aim to tear down with their protests — spilling oranges, a symbol of Palestinian identity and resilience, onto the chalk-laden ground in front of the Alumni Centre.
