Dalhousie University reopened its Halifax campuses today, Wednesday July 31, after unexpectedly shutting down on Monday following the police removal of a coaltion of pro-Palestinian students who had camped on the Studley quad since May.
Halifax Regional Police were called to the university to remove campers from the Kenneth C. Rowe Management building Monday around 4pm. Campers went to the building when Dal Security removed their encampment on Dalhousie’s Studley quad; the camp was named Al-Zeitoun University by the coalition Students for the Liberation of Palestine Kjipuktuk (SLPK) campers who lived there for 78 days.
When police arrived on Monday afternoon, officers walked protesters out of the building and guarded the doors. One of the camper/protestors, Owen Skeen, president of the NSCAD student union, was identified by an officer and informed that, effective immediately, he was banned from Dalhousie campus for six months, and that he would be charged if he were to return to Dal during those months. Protesters dispersed shortly thereafter and no arrests were made Monday.
The entirety of Al Zeitoun University was dismantled, removed and disposed of by Dal Security and private security guards by 5pm, including a library, art works and a vigil that had been set on the lawn for children killed in Gaza.
Dal has refused multiple requests from The Coast for comment about what prompted it to move against the camp this week after nearly three months. A notice from the DalSAFE campus alert system, sent Monday afternoon after the encampment was removed, said simply: “Due to safety concerns surrounding the ongoing encampment on Studley Campus, all of Dalhousie's Halifax campuses will be closed immediately until further notice.
“As in other building closure scenarios, all staff who can work from home should do so.”
The closure extended through Tuesday before campuses reopened Wednesday. On that Tuesday, Dal president Kim Brooks and vice-provost student affairs, Rick Ezekiel, sent a memo to the university community to explain “what events took place that led to the closure of our Halifax campuses today,” and to reshare their “summary of [Dal’s] institutional commitments,” which they released on July 19.
In the memo, Brooks and Ezekiel write that “what had been an established tone of respectful engagement shifted significantly” between Dal and the campers as of Tuesday July 23, when campers held a press conference inside the Henry Hicks administration building. Coalition members stayed inside after 5pm, which resulted in Dal Security calling the HRP and having students removed without incident.
Brooks and Ezekiel wrote in Tuesday’s memo that “members of the encampment did not comply with the notice [of trespass]” served by the university “instructing them to vacate the encampment and remove all objects and personal belongings by 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 28.”
The notice cited the Protection of Property Act as justification of trespassing.
They wrote that, when “encampment participants relocated to the Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building…they occupied the lobby and sought out, harassed, and intimidated individuals working and studying in the building.”
SLPK members say they chose the Rowe building to occupy because it hosts the Israel Exchange Program office within. Protesters inside the building Monday were mainly on the first floor, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free free Palestine.” There were students outside the building who said they had been trying to study and left when the encampment relocated inside.
Brooks and Ezekiel’s memo described Monday as “a taxing and emotional day for many members of our Dalhousie community,” and called the university “is a space of learning and a workplace where people should not be subjected to experiences that leave them feeling physically and psychologically unsafe.”
They recommitted to commitments to work with “student leaders” in the coming months and to “engage with and listen to members of our community.”
In an interview, Skeen, the NSCAD student leader. , says the SLPK relocated tents and protesters from the quad on Monday because they “were concerned that [Dal Security] were planning on fencing us in.”
After security guards had begun dismantling the camp at 6:30am, campers saw pieces of metal fencing being moved onto the lawn by the far end of their camp. “We didn't want to become entrapped or have no chance to avoid the violence that they might be planning, so we decided it wasn't safe to remain in that area,” says Skeen. Another reason for the move, said Skeen, was to keep families and community members who were there supporting the encampment safe.
Skeen was the only SLPK member to receive a personalized notice of trespass on Monday. Skeen is one of the only SLPK members who has both introduced himself by name at both SLPK-held press conferences and not covered his face while at the encampment.
The Coast has reached out to Dal Security, Dal administration and the HRP to confirm Skeen’s six-month ban and who will be enforcing it, and has not received any response.
Skeen says he thinks being singled out shows that Dal “specifically went after somebody who has institutional and union power.” He says, “the reason is that Dalhousie doesn't want cross-campus organizing, does not respect the rights of student unions in Kjipuktuk, and does not want the power of the students to be felt as a movement.” Neither Dal nor the Halifax Regional Police answered multiple requests from The Coast to comment on Skeen’s allegations.
Skeen said Tuesday that he plans to appeal his ban and that the SLPK are currently looking for an office space in Halifax to continue organizing from.
Prior to Monday’s removal, Al-Zeitoun University camp was the second-to-last remaining pro-Palestinian encampment on a university campus in Canada. Since May, they have been steadfast in their demands for Dal to divest and disclose and reinvest, in the context of Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza and occupation of Palestinians.
On Monday, faculty from Dal, Saint Mary’s, St. FX and other local universities published a letter condemning the encampment’s removal. They wrote that Dal’s administration is acting “in an authoritarian manner” that threatens students and other community members.
“We as faculty believe the university’s mission is to do precisely what is accomplished at Al Zeitoun University encampment—to educate, to learn, to be curious about the world, and to speak out courageously, “ and Dal’s dismantling of such “a vibrant, diverse, multi-faith and community-facing space through unilateral force rather than negotiated settlement is a stain” on the school.
They urged Dal “to heed the students’ call for disclosure and divestments, motions also democratically supported by the Dalhousie Faculty Association.”
With files from Adam Inniss, CKDU
gd2md-html: xyzzy Wed Jul 31 2024
