TORONTO: A university in Ontario has become the first major Canadian educational institution to reach an agreement with on-campus pro-Palestine protesters, pledging not to invest in companies benefitting from the war in Gaza.

Administrators and protest organisers at the Ontario Tech University in Oshawa say they have reached an agreement, bringing campus encampments and demonstrations against investments connected to Israel’s military to an end.

A copy of the agreement circulated to students shows it was signed on Monday and includes a number of commitments from the university if the encampment was taken down within 24 hours.

Among the commitments listed in the agreement is the university’s affirmation that it is engaged in “responsible investment practices”, adding that it is not “aware of investments in any companies that are benefitting from the current Palestinian Humanitarian Crisis”.

Under the agreement, the university will establish ‘a responsible investment working group that will review best practices and make recommendations’ in its investments

Additionally, university administrations have said that they will publicly post a report this fall outlining all of the varsity’s investments and financial holdings.

Under the agreement, the university will establish “a responsible investment working group that will review best practices and make recommendations” as to how the varsity approaches environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in its investments, “with particular attention to companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery and/or benefitting from military action in Palestine or elsewhere”.

Also under the agreement, the university has said it will implement “an admissions process from an inclusive lens to ensure Palestinian or other similarly displaced students can equally access education”.

The university has committed to fund three undergraduate scholarships for Palestinians displaced by the war, beginning in the fall semester.

Meanwhile, administrators have also promised that students and faculty who partook in the encampment will be protected from “academic and/or employment-based retaliation”.

The agreement between protesters and the Ontario Tech University comes weeks into the encampments that have sprung up on varsity campuses across Canada in response to the Israeli bombardment in Gaza.

Student protesters across the country are calling on their universities to divest from companies supplying weapons or benefitting from the war in Gaza. At the University of Toronto, dozens of students remain camped out, as several rounds of negotiations between protesters and the varsity have not yet led to an agreement.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Depopulating Gaza
Updated 07 Feb, 2025

Depopulating Gaza

The least feasible "solution" is the Trumpian plan for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, which is a non-starter.
‘Pause’ in US aid
07 Feb, 2025

‘Pause’ in US aid

THE impact of the Trump administration’s decision to ‘pause’ all US foreign aid programmes, especially those...
Mobilising opposition
07 Feb, 2025

Mobilising opposition

POLITICS makes strange bedfellows. There has not, for quite some time, been a guest list as intriguing as the one...
No time left
Updated 06 Feb, 2025

No time left

Climate change concerns continue to remain a footnote as politics dominates national discourse, surfacing only when disaster strikes.
Karim Aga Khan
06 Feb, 2025

Karim Aga Khan

PRINCE Karim Aga Khan was a man who straddled various worlds and cultures. Beyond his role as spiritual leader of ...
Cotton production
06 Feb, 2025

Cotton production

PAKISTAN’S cotton crop is on the ropes. The crop output has been falling since FY15, when the country harvested a...