The University of Waterloo is seeking an injunction to clear an anti-Israel encampment occupying its campus and $1.5 million in damages from encampment organizers.
The legal action from the university comes after it issued the encampment a trespass notice last Friday.
In a statement, the university said the encampment, which has been occupying its campus since May 13, is “in violation of Waterloo policies, and the law.”
The university is asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for an order requiring encampment protesters to “immediately dismantle and remove any encampment or obstructions erected, built, created, or imposed by them.”
It also wants police to be authorized to arrest non-compliant individuals and remove objects and structures.
The university is also seeking an order that would ban anti-Israel protesters from “interfering with the university’s senate, board of governors, all teaching and research activities and events related to university operations, and/or other regularly scheduled meetings on campus or elsewhere in any way.”
This comes amid activists affiliated with “Occupy UW” boasting about disrupting a board of governors meeting.
The university is seeking $1.5 million in damages from encampment organizers, including for trespass, damage to property, intimidation and enactment.
In its statement of claim, the university accused organizers of having “engaged in deliberate actions aimed at damaging the university, its property, reputation, and goodwill in the community.”
The allegations have not been tested in court.
Encampment organizers with Occupy UW reacted to the legal recourse on X, blasting the university for its “shameful” decision.
“Incredibly shameful that (the University of Waterloo) is choosing to sue their own student body protesting their universities’ complicity in a genocide,” organizers said. “We are students who have risked everything we have to protest our universities complicity in this genocide and we refuse to allow those who fund death and destruction to break our resolve.”
Occupy UW organizers are asking for donations to mount a defense. They did not respond to True North’s request for additional comment.
In a statement, the university said it acknowledges the legal action may make some feel uncomfortable, but insisted it has no choice but to proceed with it.
“The university will continue to uphold the values contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the right to free expression, in line with the principles it has received from the task force on freedom of expression and inclusive engagement,” the statement said.
The university added that it has said repeatedly that “the right to protest does not mean people have the right to endlessly occupy a shared university space.”
“The behaviour of encampment members has crossed the line to intimidation and harassment making their ongoing presence untenable.”
The university has retained the law firm Baker & McKenzie LLP as counsel.
The University of Waterloo is not the first university to seek legal action to end an anti-Israel encampment. Montreal’s McGill University and the University of Toronto are also seeking injunctions to remove encampments occupying their respective campuses.
Police have meanwhile been able to quickly clear encampments at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the University of Calgary and Laval University in Quebec City without court orders.
