Dear colleagues,
Today, General Faculties Council (GFC) passed a motion I put forward calling for a thorough third-party independent investigation into the events and decisions leading up to the forceful removal of protestors from the Quad May 11.
The motion passed unanimously with 81 in favour, zero against, and three abstentions.
GFC is the body responsible for the academic affairs of the university, and includes members from university administration, deans, the student body, as well as academic and non-academic staff.
The motion reads in part: “finding a path forward for the university community after the police action on May 11, 2024 can only occur, in the spirit and traditions of truth and reconciliation, after all the facts leading up to and associated with the decision to remove the encampment are fully known to the university community and beyond, as determined by an authoritative and trusted thorough third-party independent examination and investigation.”
You can read the motion in its entirety here.
AASUA has been calling for this investigation in meetings with senior leadership discussing the May 11 incident. We are joined in this call by the Students’ Union, the Graduate Students Association, the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA), and the Post-Doctoral Fellows Association (PDFA).
GFC’s unanimous support of the motion today speaks to how students and staff need answers and are seeking accountability for what led up to police using force to remove protestors from campus on May 11. I am hopeful the Board of Governors will heed our voices and commit to the investigation.
Sincerely,
Gordon Swaters
AASUA President