Over 1400 comments have since appeared on the Instagram statement
On Oct. 18, the Central Student Association (CSA) board of directors passed a motion to release a statement regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict on their Instagram account and website. In the days that followed, over 1400 comments appeared underneath the post reflecting a myriad of views and reactions.
The Statement
The Instagram post showed support for Israeli civilians and had no mention of Palestinian civilians. It also condemned the violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israel and condemned all acts of hate and violence while expressing concern for increasing rates of anti-semitism.
The statement posted to the CSA website contains an additional paragraph that does mention the Palestinian lives lost and highlights Hamas’ impact on Palestinian lives.
“We are deeply concerned for innocent Palestinian civilians whose lives have now been threatened due to the horrific actions of Hamas and the subsequent humanitarian crisis,” an excerpt from the extended statement reads.
Shaima Alam, president of the CSA spoke with The Ontarion about the CSA’s statement on the Israel-Gaza conflict and how the CSA came to release the statement.
“The only time that we need Board approval for a statement is when it’s political,” she said.
Alam indicated that typically statements released on behalf of the CSA are crafted after consulting with different groups.
The Ontarion reviewed CSA board meeting minutes from May 26, 2021 which details discussion surrounding the creation of a statement regarding an 11-day escalation of violence in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The board agreed to release a statement only after consulting with members of the community and affected members of the CSA.
“RESOLVED that the CSA respond and work alongside impacted CSA members and student organizations to develop a direct action plan on campus, which may include a solidarity statement and options will be presented at a future board meeting,” reads an excerpt from the motion.
Alam said that when the board members who put forward the original statement were asked, they did not specify any groups they consulted with.
“They just said they consulted people that were Jewish and non-Jewish,” Alam said.
The Ontarion planned to ask the board members who exactly were consulted in the last board meeting, but were unable to address the board before the meeting time expired at 12:17 a.m.
“It just made sense to make the statement but the board decided on their own that they want to make their own statement up and post it,” Alam said. “It followed the process of board approval.”
For this statement to get official board approval, it had to be presented to the board, voted on, and had to get majority approval from board members. The executive team, which includes the CSA president, VP Academic and VP External are not voting members of the board.
The Board Meetings
Alam said that during the board meeting on Oct. 18 “the intentions were kind of made clear by the board that they intended to not change the statement.”
She continued to say that she urged the board to consult with more members of the community before voting on releasing the statement as it was.
The motion was passed without further consultation with community members.
She said both statements, including the shortened version posted on Instagram, were presented to the board. The shortened version was referred to as “statement one” and the longer website version was referred to as “statement two.”
When asked why the Instagram statement excluded any mention of Palestinians, Alam said “I don’t know.”
“It was resolved to post statement one, which is the Instagram post, on Instagram and then statement two be posted
on the website,” she said. “So, it was just one motion that was brought forward by the board members.”
The motion to approve this statement was approved by a majority vote. However, names of voting board members and how they voted will not be reflected in upcoming board meeting minutes, which will be publicly released after they are approved at the next board meeting.
Both statements were then posted to their respective platforms. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback on the statement, and a lot of students were inflamed,” Alam said.
This led to an emergency board meeting being held on Oct. 23. The agenda from this meeting included a motion to approve a new statement with stronger messaging of Palestinian support brought forth by CSA board director Naomi Amayaevbo.
During the meeting, board member Jake Levy called for a motion to go in-camera, meaning spectators could not be present during the debate segment of putting forward the motion. Levy cited the safety of board members for the reasoning behind an in-camera session.
“It’s not about legal reasons… it’s about safety reasons,” Levy said during the meeting.
Board member Amayaevbo asked if spectators could stay if they signed a confidentiality agreement. The motion to have spectators stay upon signing the agreement was denied by a vote of 7 to 10. The motion to go in-camera was passed by a vote of 10 to 7.
External board chair Cameron Olesen said that it was atypical to go in-camera for safety reasons, noting that going in-camera is typically used for legal and financial discussions. Olesen determined that in the absence of rules prohibiting going in-camera for specific reasons, that it would be allowed.
This caused the 40 spectators, many of whom were representing student groups including the Guelph Palestinian Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Middle Eastern Student Association, in addition to those present for personal reasons, to have to leave the meeting.
The Ontarion provided the opportunity for guests to provide a statement. Hamza Kamal, representing the Pakistani Student Association, was among the spectators.
“This meeting will basically now happen behind closed doors where we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Now they can just keep doing that every single meeting until basically people forget about this.”
Mustafa Zuberi, president of the Guelph Young Liberals questioned why the majority of members who voted for the motion to go in-camera were present virtually, and not in person.
“That doesn’t add up… That’s like everyone who was online in the meeting voted against us being here,” he said.
He also empathized with some members of the CSA.
“I’m sure not every person in the CSA aligns with what they just did right now, but it does put a dent on their reputation,” he said.
After an in-camera session which took just over three hours, The Ontarion joined the meeting again to learn that the motion to release a statement focusing on the Palestinian side of the conflict would be tabled indefinitely.
Following that motion, Alam put forward a motion that would allow for a sub-committee to be made for consultation. Levy requested that executive members on subcommittees not have voting rights in the subcommittees.
During discussions to strike the subcommittee, Olesen reminded Levy that normally the executive would have voting rights on a subcommittee and that any items brought forward by the subcommittee would still be voted on by the board regardless.
The vote passed to remove the voting rights of executive members and the committee was created.
The Board Directors
CSA bylaws state that board members “be at all times as objective, fair and impartial as possible when discussing issues and making decisions.”
When asked if she felt that members of the board violated bylaws pertaining to remaining impartial and representing the best interest of students, Alam declined to comment.
She did say that there is a group of members who vote together on matters frequently and said, “those are all public minutes… It’s always been obvious that they’re all friends.”
The same group asked for a hybrid meeting on Oct. 23.
This was ultimately allowed. However, Alam did arrange for a Campus Safety Officer to be present at the meeting for members who did show up in person.
“I did contact the Campus Safety Office directly and so they said they could arrange to have someone there in person that they actually are so that folks can feel safe being there,” Alam said.
Alam also appealed to the same group of board members during the Oct. 18 meeting. She said she wanted to ensure they worked with multiple organizations before releasing a statement on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
“I acknowledge that the statement at hand was written with a lot of work, but as an organization with great responsibility of representing students, making them understand we are their union, having them feel accepted and included to use the services we provide and comfortable with reaching out with us… We should not release a statement that has not been looked at with great thought, and multiple voices,” reads a transcript of a seven-minute speech Alam made during the same meeting.
“I just talked for over seven minutes about why we shouldn’t post this specific statement,” she said. “Why we should get consultation, what the precedent has been, how we can fix our mistakes in the past, what our mandate is, what our job is, and then what would happen if we posted this and everything I said has happened, which includes our polling staff quitting their jobs.”
Another concern of Alam’s was how the response would affect those on the executive team.
“This is something the CSA has done wrong before, posting statements without consultation, and it resulted in death threats to the executive, people pushed to resign, and [having] to retract the statement,” she said in the transcript of her seven-minute speech.
Statements from community groups
Although some students are upset by the statement released by the CSA, there are groups on campus who are thankful for the CSA’s statement.
In a statement to The Ontarion, Guelph Hillel said they were “appreciative of the CSA’s statement on the conflict, which reflected the sentiments many of our students are currently feeling.”
They also stated that as the only CSA recognized Jewish student club at the University of Guelph, they are determined to make sure students feel supported, safe, and proud of their identities, both on and off campus.
The Guelph Palestinian Student Association, (GPSA), provided their own statement to The Ontarion about the Israel-Gaza conflict and the local response.
“It is deeply concerning that the Trudeau government, along with the University of Guelph have refrained from addressing Israel’s harsh and indiscriminate treatment of Palestinian individuals, opting instead to express unwavering support for Israel’s claimed right for ‘self defense’,” their statement reads.
Chabad of Guelph commented in favour of the CSA’s statement.
“I’m so proud of the students of the CSA who stood up with moral courage to call Hamas’s heinous massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7 exactly what it is: evil,” they wrote in their statement to The Ontarion.
Rabbi Raphi Steiner from Chabad of Guelph also said “When commenters on social media are calling to release the names of whoever voted for this statement ‘so they can get what’s coming to them,’ and students perpetrate vandalism and intimidation towards Jews, causing tension to rise on campus, I’m proud of the courageous Jewish students who have donned their Kippahs and Stars of David openly and proudly.”
The Muslim Students’ Association also submitted a statement to The Ontarion.
“The Muslim Students’ Association is appalled by the actions of the CSA,” they wrote in their statement. “It was a very hurtful experience for a great many members of our community. The initial statement made by the CSA was inflammatory and alienating to Palestinians. Its most fatal flaw, however, is that despite the incredibly vulgar claims, it is entirely without any sources or evidence. In an educational institution, that is unacceptable.”
What you can do
If you’re looking to have your voice heard, email the representative for your college which can be found at csaonline.ca/board/directory.
In addition, reach out to your college to see if there are any vacant positions available to make your voice heard and have a vote on the CSA board of directors.
This is an ongoing story and will continue to be covered in later editions of The Ontarion.