University of Toronto says pro-Palestinian protesters rejected latest offer

TORONTO — Negotiations between the University of Toronto and protesters behind a pro-Palestinian encampment appeared to be at a standstill Monday, with the university saying its latest offer had been rejected and protesters accusing administrators of not taking the talks seriously.

In a letter posted online, the university said the proposal sent last Thursday offered expedited processes to consider protesters’ demands for divestment from companies profiting from Israel’s Gaza offensive and greater transparency about investments.

Trustees also confirmed that the school has no direct investments in such companies, including those that produce weapons, wrote University of Toronto President Meric Gertler.

The University of Toronto, however, has said it will not sever ties with Israeli universities, as protesters are demanding.

“The proposal we have made is comparable to or more comprehensive than the agreements that have resolved the encampment problem in similar institutions,” he said. “Unfortunately, the encampment participants rejected this proposal.”

Gertler said the university has met with protesters about twice a week over the past month and is willing to meet with encampment representatives again “when there are productive reasons to do so.” The University of Toronto will also continue to seek an injunction that would allow police to dismantle the encampment, he said.

Protest organizers noted that despite regular meetings between the two sides, Gertler himself did not participate or meet with any of the students involved.

Instead, the university president “sent out proxies with no authority to make decisions for him,” Erin Mackey said at a news conference Monday.

“How can there be dialogue if there is no real dialogue?” she asked.

Mackey suggested that negotiations could not proceed in good faith given the university’s injunction request. “These negotiations are seriously unbalanced in terms of power,” she said.

Protesters also criticized Gertler’s comments about what he called “escalating online rhetoric and imagery, vandalism and other disruptive behavior” related to the encampment.

Sara Rasikh, another spokesperson for the group, said the university’s description of the encampment as hateful and disruptive was false.

“Posting our camp as a source of hate or disruption not only makes us less safe, it also attracts agitators – the very agitators the University of Toronto claims to oppose,” Rasikh said.

The students set up the camp on May 2 to demand that the university sever ties with Israel over the ongoing war in Gaza.

The protesters said they were joining students from other universities in Canada and the United States in setting up camps to call on their schools to disclose their ties to the Israeli government, divest from Israeli companies and end partnerships with Israeli academic institutions that operated under parameters they opposed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press