Legal scholar attacks MUN's 'disgusting' closure of pro-Palestine encampment

A legal scholar is weighing in on Memorial University's recent decision to boot a pro-Palestine protest group from camping out at an administrative building, and she's calling it disgusting.

On Friday, the university ordered MUN Students For Palestine protesters to leave the Arts and Administration building. While most students left, some did not, and three students were charged with trespassing.

On Monday, protesters held a rally in front of the building, drawing about 70 people. Memorial University provost and academic vice-president Jennifer Lokash said students are still allowed to peacefully protest but would not be permitted to sleep there.

Heidi Matthews, an assistant professor at Osgoode Hall Law School who specializes in international humanitarian and criminal law, said she has concerns with how MUN has interacted with the protesters.

"Absolutely disgusting. I should say I'm a professor in Toronto but I'm a proud Newfoundlander and Labradorian," she told CBC Radio's On The Go.

"It's really disturbing to see this happening in my hometown."

Last week the Ontario Superior Court granted the University of Toronto an injunction to clear outan encampment on its property.

Matthews said the big difference between MUN and Toronto's situation is that MUN did not seek an injunction against the protesters and instead went to the police.

"Really what that represents is, you know, using the arm of the state to clamp down on students who are peacefully protesting, peacefully exercising their constitutional rights to free expression and freedom of assembly," she said.

She said part of MUN's argument is it's claiming it has private property rights and can kick out protesters, a claim Matthews questions whether it would hold up in a N.L. court.

"And attached to that claim although they haven't actually come out and said this is the idea that the charter actually doesn't apply on campus," said Matthews.

For Matthews, not only does this issue touch on whether MUN is living up to its mandate to educate students and be a place where ideas can be exchanged freely, but also what freedom means.

"And we should be taking our charter rights seriously, all of us, anywhere we are, but certainly especially so on campus."

Early Tuesday morning, the Arts and Administration building doors were unlocked and there were no signs of protestors besides a few buttons left on a table.

In 2020, Matthews and her family were denied a travel exemption by the N.L. government, during the period when the province was in the COVID-19 lockdown. They appealed the decision and permission was later granted.

Safety concerns 'vague'

Speaking with CBC News on Monday, Lokash said protesters had been told they needed to leave before the police were called on Friday and cited safety concerns, including a St. John's fire department report and staff feeling unsafe.

Matthews said those types of concernsare vague.

WATCH | MUN is serious about keeping protesters outside. Here's what a VP had to say:

MUN official says police could intervene again if students stay overnight inside campus building

3 months ago

Duration 0:56

Jennifer Lokash, MUN provost and vice-president academic, says the universitys position is clear: protesters cant sleep inside a university building or camp on campus. Protesters were removed from the Arts and Administration building Friday night by police. Lokash says it could happen again.

"Questions about the degree and nature of disturbance or the degree and nature of safety concerns may well be relevant to a court when it's assessing whether or not dismantling a protest such as the one we've seen this week is a justifiable limitation on constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly," said Matthews.

Only a court can determine that, she said, but MUN sidestepped having that discussion in the courts by calling the police in.

It's a move she thinks MUN made because of how expensive the court process can be and said the University of Toronto's proceedings are estimated to have cost up to $1 million.

"We all know very well the financial straits that Memorial finds itself in," Matthews said, adding that MUN's reputation has also taken a hit recently in relation to its former president alluding to Vianne Timmons who was removed from the job amid public scrutiny following a CBC News investigation into her statements on her Indigenous ancestry and past membership in an unrecognized Mi'kmaw First Nation group.

Going through the courts would further open the university up to more scrutiny, said Matthews.

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