An event hosted by Brock’s Muslim and Arab student associations focussing on Palestinian struggle was cancelled by Brock’s administration out of claims of false advertising and fears of perpetrating antisemitism the same day it was scheduled to take place on campus.
On Oct. 10, the Brock administration cancelled an event titled “Understanding the Palestinian Struggle” which was co-hosted by Brock Muslim Student Association (MSA) and Brock Arab Student Association (ASA) and was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. in the South Block building.
Earlier in the day, both MSA and ASA received an email from Brad Clarke, Associate Vice-President, Students (AVPS) explaining his office’s reasoning for cancelling the event. The Press received access to the email through an anonymous source.
The email states that the event which had previously passed the University’s screening protocol for third-party events was cancelled mainly due to the “promotional materials” posted to the organizer’s social media accounts leading up to the event. Clarke states in the email that the posts “describe a different kind of event from what was submitted in the SERMA [Student Event Risk Management Approval] application.”
The AVPS’ email specifically notes differences in the event title as pitched on social media — titled “75 Years of Genocide” on Brock MSA’s Instagram post promoting the event — compared to its title as pitched in the SERMA application which read “Understanding the Palestinian Struggle.”
The email also states that the event was described in the SERMA application as involving “leaders from various faith traditions” and “fostering understanding across different perspectives,” and that the choice of speakers as revealed on social media “do not appear to represent various faiths” and that the promotional materials “do not present it [the event] as a ‘religious and academic discussion with a focus on the ethical and spiritual dimensions of justice and peace’.”
“The university had called the President of Brock MSA, the President of Brock ASA, and the External Affairs Officer of Brock MSA into a meeting just prior to issuing the official cancellation letter,” said a Brock MSA representative in a statement to the Press.
“The approved title, ‘Understanding the Palestinian Struggle,’ was consistent with the promotional post on Instagram, which had been live for four days without any issues being raised by the university.
“The decision to cancel the event appears to have followed a public campaign by another campus group, Chabad, which called for the university to cancel the event and encouraged public pressure. In response, the university administration quickly acted to shut down the event,” said the Brock MSA representative.
The AVPS’ email states that the university administration “received concerns from members of the Brock community that the event may encourage the spread of antisemitism” but that administrators didn’t have enough time to review those concerns.
Two pro-Israel organizations, Canadian Women Against Antisemitism (CWAA) and Allied Voices for Israel (AVI), posted to their social media a day before the event was scheduled to take place claiming one of the scheduled event speakers was a perpetrator of “dangerous and violent ideologies,” including a belief in Islamic law, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and the belief in the disbandment of the Israeli state.
Chabad at Brock, a club at Brock that acts as a hub for Jewish students, reposted CWAA and AVI’s post condemning the event and the speaker.
None of the posts cite a source for the statements allegedly made by the speaker of concern.
B’nai Brith Canada, the largest Jewish-advocacy NGO in Canada, put out an advisory post on their Facebook page condemning the University for allowing a different set of talks hosted by Brock MSA in early November of this year titled “Palestine Education Week” to be held on campus with the same speaker of concern from the cancelled October event.
B’nai Brith Canada’s post claims the speaker is “notorious for supporting terrorist organizations” and urges Brock to “take a stand against extremism and antisemitism on campus.” The claims made about the speaker and event are not sourced anywhere on the Facebook post.
One of the affiliate statements from Brock MSA’s statement mentioned the greenlighting of an event that caused controversy last year — which was held by Chabad at Brock and co-hosted by Brock Human Rights and Equity (HRE) — showed hypocrisy in the University’s cancellation of this event.
“The same people who pushed for this cancellation have previously held events that included outright discrimination and Islamophobia. Despite reporting these incidents, the university remained silent,” said Yasmeen Elgerf, a computer science student at Brock and Brock MSA member.
The talk mentioned by Elgerf took place in November 2023 on campus. The talk was branded as an antisemitism education workshop, but featured an Islamophobic image and what many saw as dehumanizing rhetoric from the event speaker toward a Gazan students’ relatives who were killed in South Gaza via an IDF strike to which the speaker said they died “because they stayed there.”
After requesting comment from the AVPS’ office, Brock’s Marketing and Communications office provided the following statement to the Press:
“After review of the event’s online promotion, the University determined further event assessment was required. Given that there was insufficient time to complete this review before the scheduled event time, Brock committed to working with the organizers to determine how the event could proceed in the future. This decision is consistent with Brock’s Student Event Risk Management and Approval process, which applies to all students and student organizations. I understand the event subsequently took place at an off-campus venue that evening.
“Freedom of expression is one of Brock’s foundational values and guiding principles and the University remains strongly committed to dialogue and the free exchange of ideas on campus.”
The University did not respond to the Press when asked why Brock MSA and ASA’s event did not pass their vetting process, but the workshop hosted by Chabad at Brock and co-hosted by Brock HRE from November of last year was allowed to go on despite the contents of the slideshow and the controversial statements made there.
The Press requested comment from CWAA, AVI and Chabad at Brock but received no response as of writing.
The full set of statements provided by Brock MSA can be read here.