MEDIA RELEASE: Palestinian supports
Students horrified at MUNL administration’s false claims that supports for Palestinian students are “in place”, statement equating Israel and Palestine
On Wednesday, August 14, after weeks of advocacy, MUN students were shocked to see that a statement announcing previously negotiated supports for Palestinian students including the lifting of financial holds on accounts for registration also focused on Israeli students, making a false equivalency between the situations of the two groups. Additionally, the statement claimed that supports such as bursaries were already “in place”, which was not the case as confirmed by Dr. Jennifer Lokash’s office on the afternoon of August 14.
Students began advocating weeks ago for supports to be put in place for Palestinian students struggling financially due to the ongoing genocide in their home country. After Bangladeshi students were given an accommodation to help lift financial holds on their accounts, the student body was upset at the double standard displayed by Memorial in dealing with their students, specifically Palestinian students who had been disproportionally financially impacted by Israel’s genocide in Palestine compared to Israeli students.
On Monday, August 5, student representatives were told that these supports were approved for Palestinian students. After waiting over a week for an announcement, many were relieved to see an update be posted in the Gazette on August 14. However, it was upsetting to many to see that once again, the struggles of Palestinian and Israeli students were equated despite the overwhelming global consensus that the violence in Palestine is not two-sided, and disproportionally impacts Palestinians. This wording, cautioned against several times by students in the meeting with administration on August 5, was appalling and disturbing to students impacted by the genocide, and showed MUNL administration’s unwillingness to learn from and listen to student protestors, or experts around the world who are continuing to call the situation a blatant example of war crimes, apartheid, and genocide.
Students are also concerned by the pattern of misleading the public displayed by MUNL administration. By stating that supports for Palestinian students such as bursaries were “in place”, a claim that was walked back later in the same day by Dr. Lokash’s office, MUNL continues its pattern of intentionally misleading the public about the situation. Previous examples of this include misrepresenting meetings with students as positive, withholding the fire safety report requested by students in early July, and making false claims about the RNC’s involvement in the student arrests that happened on July 5. This pattern is alarming to students and elected student leaders as MUNL administration has been claiming to be working towards transparency as well as building trust with the student body. Students do not see this work being done.
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MUNSU can be reached for comment via external@munsu.ca or (709) 330-6941.