More than 600 UCalgary community members sign letter condemning administration’s response to pro-Palestinian protest

Over 600 students, staff, and alumni at the University of Calgary have signed an open letter expressing their “tremendous disappointment and horror” with the post-secondary school’s response to a pro-Palestinian protest on campus on May 9.

Students set up tents on the south lawn of MacEwan Hall that Thursday morning, calling for the university to divulge and divest its interests in Israel, among other things.

Later that day, police in riot gear moved in on the encampment following warnings of arrests for protestors who refused to leave. Officers also used flash bangs, rubber bullets, and tear gas to disperse those gathered.

Calgary Police Service Chief Mark Neufeld said in an update the following day five people were arrested and three were given violation tickets.

At its peak, police say there were about 150 people participating.

Now, hundreds of members of the UCalgary community are calling for the resignation of those responsible for “unleashing militarized violence against peaceful protestors,” a meeting with protest organizers to discuss their concerns and demands transparently and constructively, for all charges against protestors to be dropped, and more.

The group says students were “continually silenced and dismissed” by university staff for seven months and the protest earlier this month was part of a global student movement to protest the “genocide, apartheid state, governance, colonization, and total destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure including the healthcare and academic institutions and capacities.”

The letter, which specifically names UCalgary president Ed McCauley, is also calling for an independent review of the school’s response to protests and policies on campus safety and police involvement and a commitment to a non-violence policy and minimal police presence when handling peaceful protests.

Calgary’s encampment protest followed those at McGill University, the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, the University of British Columbia, and Columbia University and UCLA in the U.S., where participants asked for similar actions from school officials.

The University of Alberta campus was also the site of a protest just days after Calgary’s events. In that case, city police armed with batons moved in to break up the encampment before arresting three people.

No claims of injuries suffered by protestors were made in the letter.

However, reports of potential injuries immediately following the dismantling of the protests prompted Premier Danielle Smith to order an investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) to make sure there was no unreasonable use of force.

Opposition leader Rachel Notley also called for an investigation into the matter.

Smith said at the time she was in support of the actions taken by school authorities in the situations at the province’s largest post-secondary schools.

“I support the right of the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary to ensure a safe environment for all of their students,” she said. “There is a way to peacefully protest, and you have to protest in compliance with the law.”