Student groups demand economic and academic divestment from Israeli institutions
On April 27, 2024, University of Ottawa student groups Integrity Not Spite Against Falastin (INSAF) and the Palestinian Student Association (PSA) announced plans for a sit-in protest on Tabaret Lawn starting Monday, April 29 from 12-9 p.m.
Inspired by similar Palestinian solidarity movements at Columbia University and across the United States, these U of O students plan to pressure the university to divest from Israeli institutions by occupying Tabaret Lawn until their demands are met.
The groups are demanding the university’s “pension fund fully divest from corporations which facilitate Israel’s occupation and genocide in Gaza” and that the university commits to “breaking off relationships with academic Israeli institutions.” Student groups have been calling for the U of O’s divestment since November.
The University’s most recent statement on the conflict pledged not to cut ties with academic institutions in Israel. U of O president and vice-chancellor Jacques Fremont wrote in the statement published March 14, 2024, “The University of Ottawa will have no part of any movement that boycotts academic institutions.”
Encampments at American universities have rapidly grown over the past week, resulting in violent arrests of students and faculty. As of April 28, these are the organizations that support the sit-in: University of Ottawa New Democratic Party, Ottawa Palestinian Youth Movement, Labour for Palestine Ottawa, Canadian Muslim Affairs Public Council, and OPIRG-GRIPO Ottawa.
This is a developing story. Updates regarding the sit-in will be posted in separate articles throughout the week.
Author
- BREAKING: U of O students plan sit-in for Palestine
- U of O administration responds to sit-in plans
- Student Sit-In Begins April 29th on Tabaret Lawn
- Disclosure and Divestment: A look at U of O protesters’ demands
- BREAKING: Student Sit-In turns into active encampment
- Student Sit-In Continues on Tabaret Lawn for a Second Day; Turns Into Encampment
- ‘A simple meeting is the first step’: reviewing Day 3 of U of O’s student encampment
- “Divest is the neutral position”: Recapping Day 4 of U of O’s student encampment
- “Look away like you do for genocide”: Student Encampment Continues for Fifth Day
- ‘It’s important to … remember that we’re not in this alone’: reviewing day 6 of the U of O encampment
- U of O protest continues into second week: Day 8 recap
- Negotiations with University Break Down: Day 9 recap
- Political and Social Groups Respond: Reviewing Day 10 of the U of O protest
- Tent shelters, teach-ins continue at protest: Day 11 recap
- ‘Academia should be concerned with people’: recapping the 12th day of the U of O encampment
- Second Saturday of protest marked by community presence, rain: Day 13 recap
- Week Two Recap: Encampment, community support grows as organizers set to meet with university administration
- U of O protest organizers hold preliminary meeting with university administration: Day 15 recap
- Tensions high at Ottawa City Hall as Israeli flag flies: Day 16 recap
- University agrees to give timeline for disclosure of investments: Day 17 recap
- U of O offers timeline for disclosure; protesters interrupt Congrès de l’Acfas meetings: Day 18/19 recap
- Community rally walks through campus as protest continues for 20th day
- Progress on demands or administrative performativity? Week 3 Recap of the U of O encampment
- U of O encampment remains for fourth week as others in province end
- BREAKING: U of O submits first proposal to student protesters
- ‘Canada, you’re complicit in the genocide of Palestinians’: community protests at CANSEC, police station, and Parliament Hill
- INSAF, PSA provide negotiations update ahead of U of O disclosure
- University of Ottawa sends second proposal to encampment organizers
- U of O threatens to issue trespass notice to encampment
- BREAKING: University of Ottawa encampment erects barricades outside Tabaret Hall
- BREAKING: U of O encampment for Palestine ends after 71 days
