WLUFA Statement of Support for Academic Freedom and Rights to Peaceful Protest
June 3, 2024,
The Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) unequivocally supports academic freedom and the rights of students, faculty, and staff to free expression, peaceful assembly, and public protest, as well as the freedoms of thought, belief, opinion, and association enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In defence of these principles, we stand united with the students at the University of Waterloo’s Gaza House encampment, and with the faculty, staff, and librarians who show their solidarity and support.
We call on the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University administrations and wider community to protect and respect the rights of students, faculty, librarians, and staff to peacefully protest without harm, intimidation, retaliation, or the threat of police violence. We amplify CAUT’s statement on police actions against peaceful protesters on campus.
We call on our university administrators to engage in meaningful dialogue with the students and wider campus community to discuss their demands for disclosure, divestment, and boycott of institutions complicit in Israeli war crimes and human rights violations in all Occupied Palestinian Territories.
WLUFA Executive Committee