Academic freedom advocates say the Israel-Hamas war has sparked censorship on both sides by universities and colleges.
This comes amid continuing polarizing debate on the conflict in the Middle East, both in Canadian academia and in broader Canadian society.
In an interview with True North, Society of Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) president Robert Thomas said “academics should have the right to be involved in public debates over public policy and the issues of the day.”
He noted that both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian views have become mainstream in academia. “A lot of the people’s ideas and ideologies are not fringe ideas. They’re not ideas that a few crazy, undereducated people say in chat rooms on Facebook.”
There have been several cases of students and faculty members facing sanctions for their views on the current conflict in the Middle East, even when expressed off-campus or on social media.
University of Guelph-Humber marketing professor Paul Finlayson, who supports Israel, was reprimanded for a strongly worded social media post denouncing Hamas and its supporters.
“If you say ‘from the river to the sea’, you’re a Nazi. I’m not neutral. I stand with Israel. I stand against anti-Semites who want nothing but dead Jews; who take millions from their education and health care budgets and spend it on making war,” wrote Finlayson on LinkedIn.
He added that Israel has a full right to its land.
“You stand with Palestine means you stand with Hitler. You don’t want peace, you want dead Jews. Just like Palestinians who freely admit this to pollsters. They want a barbaric, primitive Islamic caliphate and hate all post-Enlightenment values. They murder their own people for being gay and you stand with them. Disgusting. Move there.”
Guelph-Humber gave Finlayson a paid suspension. While he recognized that his post was heated, he told the National Post that he does not believe his suspension is justified and threatened the university with legal action.
Professors and students also say they have been unfairly suspended for supporting Palestine and criticizing Israel.
Among those is University of Ottawa medical resident doctor Yipeng Ge, who posted several pro-Palestine and anti-Israel messages on Instagram.
His posts include a photo of posters on a lamppost that read “Zionism = genocide of Palestinians,” “Israel bombs Hospitals in Gaza,” and “Free Palestinian Political Prisoners, Free Palestine.”
The self-described “anti-racist” doctor also posted a photo of a sign that reads, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” a slogan derided by many Jews as a call for the elimination of Israel with genocidal implications.
Ge was suspended for over his posts, resulting in accusations that the University of Ottawa was stifling free speech.
The doctor was later reinstated, but refused to go back, telling CBC News “I feel incredibly harmed by this process, and I don’t know how to continue within this institution because of what’s happened.”
Amidst incidents like the two described above, an American poll found that 82% of professors who study the Middle East feel the need to censor their pro-Israel or pro-Palestine views.
Thomas, who supports Israel, believes the best way to deal with polarizing issues on campus is to have more free speech, not less.
“If you suppress one side and don’t give them a fair hearing, then what’s going to happen is people are still going to go and listen to that side and they’re going to continue holding their views.
“I think bad ideas have to be confronted, criticized in their totality, and discredited. If you try to suppress them, if you try to just push them away to the margins, that won’t actually get rid of them. They’re just going to continue. And you’re never going to show that they’re actually ridiculous.”
Others, however, note that some comments from pro-Palestine faculty have crossed into hate.
For example, Langara College English instructor and Indigenous curriculum consultant Natalie Knight, came under intense fire for calling, at an off-campus rally, Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel an “amazing, brilliant offensive.”
Knight was initially temporarily suspended, but was later fired after she doubled down on her views.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs praised Knight’s firing, noting that “there should be absolutely no room for the glorification of terrorism and antisemitism at any post-secondary institution in Canada.”
SAFS, however, had a different response.
The organization said on X (formerly Twitter) that “the right to extramural (off-campus) speech is an essential part of academic freedom. This doesn’t change when one finds it offensive or reprehensible. There are limits to speech, but the extent of those limits is highly contestable.”
Thomas noted that there are already hate speech laws in Canada that cover advocating for genocide, and that Knight’s reprehensible comments, made off campus, did not result in her was being criminally charged with hate speech.
