[antiwar-van] York University student scapegoated & suspended for three years for Palestinian support

[Tony Tracy]

{See also http://www.en-camino.org/freespeechyorku/ for background
information on the case of Dan Freeman-Maloy and a call-out for support by
the York Free Speech Committee}

York U stumbles
Fearing escalating confrontations between pro-Israel and 
pro-Palestine student groups, York picks a scapegoat

from: http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_05.13.04/city/york.html
 
BY NICOLE COHEN

On October 22, York University's Young Zionist Partnership (YZP) hosted an
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) appreciation day in the campus' Central Square.
They set up displays about the army and blasted Israeli music out of a
loudspeaker. Students wore IDF t-shirts and buttons that read "More Hummus
Less Hamas." The celebration followed two days of Middle East violence: the
morning's newspapers reported at least 16 people wounded and 10 killed
during Israeli strikes in Gaza and the West Bank. 

On another part of campus, third-year political science student Dan
Freeman-Maloy and members of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)
handed out flyers calling the celebration "cheerleading for terror."

The group of about 12 then marched down to Central Square chanting "Free,
free Palestine." As they approached, the YZP turned up the music. Though
SPHR had a megaphone that several students used to denounce Israeli policy,
their voices were drowned out by YZP's music and jeering. A crowd of dozens
gathered to watch, and someone called the police.

Freeman-Maloy, 21, was in the middle of the fray. A Jewish, anti-Zionist
student and a social-justice activist, Freeman-Maloy is a vocal supporter
of
Palestinian human rights. He's been called a self-hater and a terrorist,
and
he says he has received death threats. A video from the clash shows another
Jewish student screaming, "You are a fucking shame to the fucking race and
you shouldn't call yourself a Jew because you're not," before screaming
something else in Hebrew. Another student is seen yelling, "Show me you're
a
Jew." 

Now, six months later, Freeman-Maloy has been expelled from York for three
years. Well, not expelled, exactly. York president and vice-chancellor
Lorna
Marsden's actual words state that he "will not be permitted to re-register
at York University for three calendar years." Employing power granted to
her
under the York University Act, Marsden has unilaterally decided that
Freeman-Maloy's conduct this year was unacceptable, that he is a threat to
students and a disruption to the academy. He cannot appeal the decision.

Technically speaking, he is being sent down for using a megaphone (also not
Marsden's words; she calls it an "unauthorized sound amplification device";
let's call them USADs), once during the IDF celebration, and once during
another clash between the two groups in March. 

But there were many students protesting at both events, and Freeman-Maloy
was not the only one who used a USAD. The second time he used the USAD was
in March, and Marsden waited for over a month to expel him. Nancy White,
York's director of media relations, says they waited to let him finish
classes, "so it's fair to him." Freeman-Maloy thinks it's because the end
of
the year is a tough time to mount an effective on-campus political
response.

He was three weeks away from his final exams and was about to start his job
as an editor at the Excalibur, York's student newspaper -- a position to
which he was elected. And though Marsden later announced that Freeman-Maloy
would be allowed to finish the term, she has banned him from setting foot
on
campus. 

Freeman-Maloy was baffled by his de facto expulsion. He says he did not
break any school rules, and says Marsden is trying to shut him -- and his
political views -- up. "It's an attempt at political repression, a chance
to
set a precedent."

Throughout the year campus activists have accused York's administration of
trying to repress political activity. They have decried the university's
corporate ties, and accused Marsden of trying to push a political agenda.

Freeman-Maloy has been a vocal critic. He called for the removal of a
member
of the York Foundation's board of directors, has publicly questioned
Israeli
and Canadian leaders at campus speaking engagements, and criticized York
administration in the media. He founded the group Students for a Critical
Consciousness, which, among other things, was inteded to inject a voice of
reason onto a campus where moderate Jews feel alienated from organized
Jewish campus life. He has spoken out about the administration's banning of
leafleting and tabling in certain areas on campus. It's the kind of
activity
that gets you noticed up in the ivory tower.

His forced departure is part of a larger story unfolding at York. Global
tensions have manifested on Canadian campuses, and York is no exception,
especially when it comes to hot-button Middle East politics. It's not rare
to see people ripping posters they don't agree with off the walls, or
crumpling up handouts and tossing them on the floor. Clashes between
pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups thrust the suburban campus into the
media spotlight this year, and have generated whispers of York being the
new
Concordia.

With over 47,000 students, York is the third-largest university in Canada.
And as institutions struggle to compete for funding and enrolment dollars,
it's important to present a controversy-free image.

And things blew up during a clash on March 16, a few months before York was
set to launch a high-profile advertising campaign.

SPHR and Jewish groups squared off in Vari Hall on a day both groups had
planned events. The slightly blurred photo that ran in the Excalibur five
days later depicted a mob of students -- some wearing "If I was a suicide
bomber you'd be dead by now" t-shirts -- chanting and pushing, with
Freeman-Maloy in the middle of the fracas, using a USAD. 

The event was all over the mainstream media, and both Hillel and SPHR were
banned for a week, which infuriated students who called for freedom of
speech.

White says Freeman-Maloy was expelled because he intentionally disrupted
classes by organizing two highly confrontational protests. 

But Freeman-Maloy says he did not orchestrate the March 16 event, and
doesn't know why he was singled out. He is unaware of anyone else -- from
SPHR or a Jewish group -- being reprimanded. 

White says that groups can book space on campus to hold a protest, and
calls
the events Freeman-Maloy participated in "illegal" protests. And, under no
circumstances, says White, are students allowed to protest in Vari Hall, a
round, bright, wide-open space with high ceilings, which happens to be the
main university thoroughfare and an ideal space for public gathering.
Students lounge against the walls and sometimes play hackey sack, and the
university often hosts career fairs and other events, which make the hall
noisy and difficult to walk through.

White insists that Freeman-Maloy was warned about the impending dismissal,
but he doesn't buy it. Besides, "they haven't established definitively that
classes were disturbed," he says.

White says she spoke with students who said their classes were interrupted,
but the Excalibur reported that members of York security and "high-ranking
administrative officials" watched the clash for almost an hour before
interfering.

The expulsion has sent a chill through campus.

"The decision represents an appalling breach of rights to free speech,"
says
doctoral student Clarice Kuhling. She says York has a long history of
megaphones at demonstrations on campus, but never has anyone been penalized
or expelled.

Professor David McNally, who has been on York's political science faculty
for 20 years, was shocked by the measures taken against Freeman-Maloy.

"I have never witnessed such an aggressive violation of due process and
basic civil liberties (on campus)," he says. "The punishment is in no way
proportionate to the alleged crime." 

McNally says the punishment violates York's progressive spirit. But he is
also concerned about the larger issue at stake: a rollback of the freedom
of
speech and the right to political dissent on campus that students had to
fight for in previous decades.

Marsden insists the expulsion is not political. Freeman-Maloy, who now has
lawyers Peter Rosenthal and Jackie Esmonde of Roach, Schwartz and
Associates
representing him, is worried about the message this sends to campus
activists. 

"This is an act of political repression," he says. "They're stifling free
speech on campus and clamping down on dissent." 

{from Eye Weekly: http://www.eye.net}