A British Columbia judge has ruled that university professors are free to pass political resolutions on global conflicts such as the Gaza war, rejecting a petition from Simon Fraser University faculty who challenged anti-Israel motions adopted by their colleagues.“It is not the court’s role to intervene in members’ political disputes, weigh into the merits of the members’ decision or substitute its judgment,” wrote Justice Francesca Marzari in dismissing the complaint from 13 professors. She said courts must take “a more restrained approach” when dealing with internal decisions of private associations.At a 2024 annual meeting, SFU faculty passed two controversial motions. .A divestment resolution, approved 423 to 244, urged the university to sell holdings in defence contractors. Another, passed 333 to 326, demanded that administrators cut ties with Israeli universities, condemn “scholasticide in Palestine,” sell Israeli investments and create student hardship funds tied to the Gaza conflict.Opponents argued the votes went far beyond the faculty association’s mandate. The court disagreed, noting SFU professors had previously passed resolutions on climate change, oil pipelines and foreign politics..The ruling comes amid growing scrutiny of Canadian campuses for antisemitic incidents. A Commons justice committee report last December warned of “heightened antisemitism” and recommended cabinet tie federal funding for universities to enforcement of hate-speech bans.Among documented cases, a Jewish student at Toronto Metropolitan University was told “it’s too bad Hitler didn’t finish the job,” while an Edmonton student was called a “Zionist pig.” A University of Alberta faculty member posted an Israeli flag defaced with a swastika, while Queen’s University faculty used a medical conference to denounce “the genocide in Gaza.”Ira Robinson, professor emeritus at Concordia University, told MPs campuses had become “a major lightning rod for antisemitic manifestations” after Hamas terrorists murdered and kidnapped civilians in Israel on October 7, 2023, including eight Canadians.
