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On November 2, 2023, Hani Alaf, a Syrian-Canadian postgraduate student at Humber College, engaged in a peaceful protest by placing stickers around the Lakeshore campus. These stickers, which displayed the Palestinian flag along with the phrase "Boycott Israeli Apartheid," were intended to highlight and protest against Israel’s systemically racist policies in Palestine.[1] Alaf’s action was a form of political expression rooted in international human rights advocacy.
However, the college's response was swift and severe. Two days after the stickers were posted, while Alaf was in class, he was approached by a member of the college's public safety department. He was instructed to leave the campus immediately. Alaf reported that he was accused of spreading hate speech, engaging in antisemitic rhetoric, and vandalizing property.[2] This reaction by the college sparked a significant controversy, as it appeared to conflate his support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement and anti-apartheid stance with antisemitism and hate speech, raising concerns about the college’s suppression of political expression and academic freedom.
The incident quickly escalated, leading to a broader discussion on the rights of students to engage in political protests without fear of undue penalization. The punishment taken against Alaf, which many perceived as an infringement on his freedom of speech, catalyzed a series of organized protests and expressions of solidarity by other members of the Humber College community.
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In early March, 2024 a member of the Hillel Waterloo Laurier student group donned a costume that exaggerated Arab features and sparked controversy. This outfit, worn by a student during a Purim event for the Hillel group, included a Palestinian keffiyeh styled to mimic an Arabic headdress, and a type of robe with stuffing to suggest a large belly. The student also appeared to hold either 1) what seemed to be a dagger, or 2) what appeared to be a trigger for a suicide bomb. In either case, this costume invoked deeply ingrained and offensive Orientalist stereotypes. After protests, and after first refusing, the Hillel group eventually removed the image from its Instagram account. The University said it would look into whether this incident violated the student code of conduct.
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