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In 1969, students faced anti-Black discrimination, suspicion and police violence at Montreal’s Sir George Williams University. After 2020’s summer of racial reckoning – what has changed? (an old year’s night thread)
Black grad student at UBC, Savoy Williams, refused entry to Buchanan building by campus security despite having a letter of permission, student ID, and phone number of supervisor. (June 2020) https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/06/12/ubc-campus-security-building-access/
Massey College, University of Toronto, offers a prestigious fellowship to racist journalist Margaret Wente who called Black Lives Matter activists “bullies”. Massey College’s only Black governing member, Prof Alissa Trotz, resigns in protest. (Jun 2020) https://thevarsity.ca/2020/09/13/opinion-margaret-wentes-problematic-appointment-isnt-just-about-u-of-t/
Insta account “Stolen by Smith” documents a hostile environment of racism at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University (July 2020) https://www.vice.com/en/article/ep4ank/business-school-students-are-sharing-racism-horror-stories-on-instagram
Indigenous profs forced out of University of Saskatchewan due to systemic racism (Aug 2020) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/indigenous-professors-cite-racism-lack-of-reform-in-university-of-saskatchewan-exodus-1.5703554
Insta account Black at Western and Black Alumni forced Western to apologize for keeping racist psychologist Philip Rushton on faculty (Sept 2020)
https://www.instagram.com/blackatwestern/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/blackatwestern/?hl=en
Racist abuse hurled at Black doctoral candidate, Tari Ajadi, in Halifax. Ajadi says this is just everyday. “That’s the city, the province, and the country we live in" https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/doctoral-candidate-at-dalhousie-posts-video-of-racist-exchange-in-west-end-halifax-2697928
Despite repeated calls for change, McGill University decides to keep the statue of slave-owner James McGill at its entrance. (Oct 2020) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mcgill-montreal-anti-black-racism-1.5746283
University of Alberta Prof Ubaka Ogbogu, who specializes in public health law and policy, is a victim of hate crime, receives racist messages telling him to “go home” after criticizing pandemic response. (Nov 2020) https://www.ualberta.ca/law/about/news/2020/11/condemning-racism.html
University of Windsor apologizes to Black student, Jordan Afolabi, after admitting that his treatment “may be” due to racial profiling (Dec 2020) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/university-windsor-complaint-1.5826876
Dec 2020 -- A Black alumni on the campus of Simon Fraser University was pepper sprayed and tasered for trying purchase food from dining hall https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/12/12/sfu-arrest-racial-profiling-black-former-student/
U of Ottawa prof uses the n-word and several professors across Quebec sign petition in support of "academic freedom". Like the students in 1969, University of Ottawa students hold a sit-in to protest anti-Black Racism (Dec 2020) https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/12/08/uottawa-students-participate-in-sit-in-protest-for-real-action-on-anti-black-racism.html
Some Canadian universities posted institutional, corporatized statements on Black Lives Matter and turned to EDI as response. But what this moment needs is decolonization even if it means the end of the university as we know it!!!! Happy New Year all!
