The brutally violent suppression of peaceful protests on university campuses should raise alarms for everyone. OCADFA’s Board of Directors joins CAUT in condemning the use of force, or threat of force, against students, faculty, academic staff and other community members who are exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association to demonstrate their demands that universities divest and disaffiliate from what the International Criminal Court has called a plausible genocide. 

We cannot bear witness in silence while public institutions use violence to suppress the democratic rights expressed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Universities are supposed to be a haven for critical dialogue and expression, recent actions and threats from some university administrations are inimical to the mission of post-secondary institutions.  

We call on university administrators to engage in dialogue with protestors, instead of engaging the police to silence them. They will not be silenced.