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OTTAWA (CUP) – Just over a week after Carleton University administrators banned a poster advertising Israeli Apartheid Week, the University of Ottawa’s (U of O) communications office decided to prohibit the same poster, citing its “confrontational” nature. The Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) group’s posters were originally approved by the office on Feb. 13. Andrée Dumulon, U of O’s director of communications, said the poster should not have been approved in the first place. The poster depicts a cartoon of an Israeli helicopter firing a missile at a small child, whose shadow spells the word “Gaza.” Dumulon said the image conflicts with the university communication office’s posting regulations, which states “Posters with words or images that incite violence or confrontations will be denied posting privileges.”
Mahmoud Hmouz, SPHR external relations officer, disagreed with the reasoning behind the university’s decision. “I think that the posters are not showing anything that should not be shown,” he said. “I think that we have the right [to] freedom of expression and freedom of speech. We are not fabricating anything; we are not making anything up; we are
just showing something that actually happened, and we’re not even using real imagery, which would probably be way more disturbing.” Laura Grosman, vice-president advocacy for Hillel Ottawa’s Israel Awareness Committee, supports the university’s decision. “We commend the university for recognizing that posters such as this only lead to threats, harassment and intimidation on campus,” she said. “The posters being discussed do absolutely nothing to promote any real dialogue on the Middle East; all this serves to do is to help foster a toxic and intolerant environment on campus.”
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), which represents U of O’s undergraduate students, has approved the SPHR group’s posters, and currently has them displayed under their supervision in the Unicentre student union building. SFUO president Dean Haldenby said the student union contacted their legal services and the Ontario Human Rights Commission in an effort to back up their decision. “We’re asking the University of Ottawa for explicit and tangible reasoning based on legislation and precedent that would inform recent decisions and bring better understanding to the issue,” he said.
While a new set of SPHR posters with a different image and more information about Israeli Apartheid Week events have been approved by the university and will be displayed across campus, Hmouz reinforces the group’s desire to hear the university provide a better explanation for their decision.
Source: Excalibur Website |
