There were no updates from either side early Monday on ongoing talks between pro-Palestinian demonstrators camped out at the University of Toronto and school administrators, as the protesters face an 8 a.m. ET deadline to clear the encampment.
University officials have previously said that no matter the outcome of the negotiations, demonstrators must vacate the school’s downtown St. George campus.
Those in the camp were served with a trespass notice last week warning students involved in the protest could be suspended, while participating faculty or staff could be fired.
The university says it will seek an injunction through an urgent hearing if the protesters refuse to leave.
Student demonstrators and their supporters, including some faculty and members of the Ontario Federation of Labour, are set to hold a solidarity rally on campus as the deadlines expires.
Spokespeople for the encampment indicated over the weekend they don’t intend to leave, despite threats of eviction from the university.
Natalie Rothman, an Israeli-Canadian professor at the school who has participated in the weeks-long protest, said Monday she and other faculty will continue to support the encampment regardless of warnings from administrators they could be fired.
“I think we are truly fighting here for the soul of the university. We are fighting for what a university really needs to look like,” she told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.
“The students have been teaching us for weeks now what a university that is true to its values, to its own core values and mission statement, looks like in terms of speaking truth, seeking truth, asking hard questions and demanding accountability,” Rothman said.
She added that any potential police involvement in clearing the encampment would be an “enormous stain on the university.”
The two sides spent the weekend in talks ostensibly aimed at peacefully ending the student-led protest. The school presented an offer last week that protesters rejected, saying it doesn’t meaningfully address their demands. They said they intended to present a counter-offer on Sunday.
The encampment was set up on May 2 at the heart of the university’s downtown campus, part of a massive wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at post-secondary institutions in Canada and the United States.
Organizers called on the university to cut its ties with Israel, divest from companies profiting from Israel’s offensive in Gaza, and terminate partnerships with the country’s academic institutions deemed complicit in the war.
School administrators have already said U of T it will not end any partnerships with Israeli universities.
On Oct. 7, Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza against Hamas has killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Source Agencies
