Ryan Moore, News Editor
Featured image by Michael Zusev, Photo Editor
Two stewards of the York University Faculty Association have come forward with their perspective on the recent decision by YUFA to endorse the YU Divest campaign, which calls on York’s Board of Governors to permanently divest its endowment fund from weapons manufacturers.
Professors Ida Ferrara and Rose Steele say they do not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor are they Jewish or Palestinian.
Both find it unacceptable that some members of their association chose to endorse this campaign when, they say, other members clearly did not want to be associated with an endorsement.
“First of all, we brought a petition to the Stewards’ Council meeting on March 4, 2016, on behalf of 78 YUFA members to ask that Stewards’ Council not endorse the motion,” says Steele.
“So clearly the endorsement was not something everyone could get behind.”
If YUFA members are interested in supporting divestment as a social cause, then YUFA could consider issuing an independent statement to that effect, the petition reads.
Rose and Steele circulated a hard copy of the petition that started the YU Divest campaign, noting the points about Israel and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
“It is clear from this material that the campaign is founded in anti-Israeli sentiments. We were told by the supporters, however, that the petition was ‘old’ and that it was only the final call to the BoG that mattered, and that Israel was not mentioned in that call. So despite all the other evidence within the petition, supporters claimed there was no controversy as the campaign was not anti-Israel.
There was a good deal of concern on the Executive about the statement of Ferrara and Steele. At the YUFA meeting, they issued the following:
“We carefully listened to the opinions expressed by these stewards and in the petition, as well as those expressed by a similar number of members who urged YUFA to stand with the YU Divest campaign. A large majority of the elected representatives of our members voted to endorse the campaign.”
“We consider the issue closed. We do consider it irresponsible, however, to suggest that any students have reason to feel threatened or discriminated against by this decision, which does not target any state or any religious group. Our members are professionals who deeply respect all our students, and it is regrettable that a small number of individuals are using a political disagreement as a platform to suggest otherwise.”
David McNally, YUFA steward of political science, says it’s true that there were 78 signatures collected over the course of about two weeks against the divestment motion.
“But in 24 hours, I collected 62 signatures of YUFA members on a pro-divestment motion letter to the YUFA Executive. The letter denounced the smear campaign against divestment supporters, opposed the demonization of Students Against Israeli Apartheid, and urged the YUFA Executive to maintain its support for YU Divest. Had I taken a week or more, as did the organizers of the letter with 78 signers, I could easily have gathered well over 100 names, probably considerably more.”
The opponents of YU Divest had extensive opportunity to present their case to YUFA stewards and executive members, according to McNally.
“The reason is that the arguments were intellectually weak and politically offensive to many of us.”
“The truth is that we have had long and democratic debates at the YUFA Executive and Stewards’ Council about the motion to endorse YU Divest. The opponents lost the debate. It is just sour grapes to turn around and then question the legitimacy of a majority decision that was arrived at through considerable democratic deliberation.”
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