University of Toronto professor infiltrates anti-Israel encampment

Article content

A skeptical University of Toronto professor who secretly infiltrated the anti-Israel encampment at the school’s downtown campus says many are not actually students and should be forced to remove the barriers blocking people from the area.

“I completely support … the student’s right to protest, whether I agree or disagree, but … that right does not include preventing students from entering common spaces unless they agree with you, and it doesn’t include refusing to make way so that our students can celebrate their convocation on that same common space,” Kevin A. Bryan, an economist and associate professor at the university’s business school, told National Post in an email. “This goes double for the portion of protesters who are not even affiliated with the university.”

Article content

Article content

The anti-Israel protesters breached a fence around King’s College Circle Thursday morning that had been erected in preparation for an upcoming convocation event. The area has been filled with tents, banners and flags and protesters are preventing anyone who doesn’t share their views from accessing the area. They have defied an order from the school to remove all tents and barriers by 10 p.m. Thursday.

Bryan visited the encampment on Thursday and spoke to some of the protesters for about 30 minutes before he was “caught out” and asked to leave for not sharing the views of the demonstrators. He shared his impression of the movement and the protesters in a thread posted to X. He said many of them seemed to have no affiliation with the university. Read the full transcript of the social media posts, below, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

A short note on the encampment that’s now set up here in Toronto @UofT. I snuck into it today (I told them I was a fellow comrade who’d stepped out to get a cigarette — not exactly crack security). I think it’s only fair to talk to the folks and see what’s going on before judging.

Article content

Article content

I did start recording video, just to ensure nothing was misinterpreted, when a fellow wanted to remove me from the site. I’m not trying to embarrass these kids, so won’t post it, but suffice to say what I’m saying below is documented.

First fact is that strict majority of people I talked to are neither students nor affiliated with our university. We have something like 100,000 students and tons of staff, so it’s not hard to find them! But yeah, “student encampment” is just objectively wrong as a description.

They took down one piece of fencing on the quad where convocation events happen next week, and have a handful of (masked) people controlling entry. I walked around the “sign-in” and no one noticed for ten minutes or so. But it’s *not* free entry.

The “security” and “spokesperson” both explicitly said that if you don’t support the collective’s view on Palestine, you aren’t welcome and they will remove you. Actually, I was specifically told to leave now or “it would become more uncomfortable.”

When I said, what do you mean, he tried to play it off as that it would be “embarrassing.” I did see a large group (50 people or so) surround a different woman who’d gotten in and start chanting “all Zionists are evil.”

Article content

In terms of posters, honestly, it was just a general melange of far-left policy. There was a speaker who was at the Wet’suwet’en protest (long story, but “traditional leaders” vs. elected leaders of a First Nation in B.C. on resource development), a Congo flag, a climate sign, etc.

One (white) person explained to me it was a black & brown led group. I responded that visibly the protesters are fairly obviously overwhelmingly white people. I was told this was only because non-white people don’t feel safe joining but that they all support it.

I talked to another protester about how, safety-wise, surely they must understand that a giant “Honour to the Martyrs” poster is interpreted as pro-violence given how that term is used in the Gaza conflict. She insisted martyr and intifada aren’t violent terms.

I asked “why protest here,” especially to folks who had no personal link to U of T. They said because U of T won’t divest. I said U of T has no such investments other than index funds and the like, same as that owned by the Canada Pension Plan or Teacher’s Pension or their parents.

Response was always “we agree, everyone’s complicit in genocide.” At one point, a group I was talking to argued that Kenya sending peacekeeping troops to Haiti was colonial violence. Given language, I suspect IMT (the International Marxist Tendency) played a role in organizing.

Article content

I discussed alternatives with some of the groups. Free speech, right to protest, Chicago principles: all great! But banning people who don’t agree with you, by force, from a common space on campus, especially when graduation for poor HS class of 2020 is next week, isn’t speech.

The university response right now is basically “let it peter out.” They have campus security in case a fight breaks out. But they’re still complicit in allowing the “entry gate” — an older woman with a Marxist shirt claimed to be the “group liaison with the school.”

I don’t really get why we’d allow this. All have the right to protest! Free country. But letting a group of masked (non)students control entry to quad, letting them turn it into a campground with tents: you can just take down the tents and entry gate without touching anyone.

That said, implicit threat that “it would be uncomfortable” for me if I didn’t leave is also not great. They knew I was a professor, to be clear. Obviously no real danger — physically, protesters were more Trotsky than Stalin. But allowing entry gate permits this behaviour.

Article content

I was also asked “how can you care more about convocation than death.” I responded, I care a lot — what do you think about the madness in El Fasher (Sudan)? No one had any idea what that was. Honestly, it’s mostly a young, not-very-informed group, who flit from protest to protest.

Again, I’m not going to post my video. I didn’t even take a phone out until a kid made an implicit threat. But I do think @UofT needs to understand what’s actually happening, and the embarrassing @utfaculty letter implying faculty support this needs to be retracted.

As in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan & Burma, I hope we reach a peaceful solution soon in Gaza, that allows human flourishing. And I hope our students, Muslim & Jewish, can feel safe & productive on campus. But don’t forget: purpose of the university is education, for all, equally.

(Oh, last thing: to make as clear as possible that this isn’t a “student protest” and shouldn’t be called as such, I am 40 and no one batted an eye about my age when I was there. Important to get this right.

(And, last last thing: Just want to be really clear that I didn’t take a census. All I know directly is, majority I talked to weren’t U of T affiliated. We also know that the protest was partly organized by USW (United Steelworkers union). Beyond that, you’ll have to do some journalism yourself!)

Article content

Article content