Student leaders didn’t budge as 60 students crowded Mitchell Hall to voice their concerns.
AMS Assembly, held Nov. 21, had students of diverse backgrounds share their personal experiences of discrimination and the pain of the war happening in the Middle East. Students at-large urged student leaders to take a stand. After three hours of speakers, assembly adjourned before any other topic was discussed.
The forum was spurred by what was initially the final point on the agenda, a discussion titled a “Call to Action by the Queen’s Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) student group.”
“The fact that the word Palestine was mentioned in the AMS agenda, and then you had this response, the defaming of Palestinians for wanting to speak and wanting to address you, just sends a specific message of what’s going on here. It’s a silencing,” Layth Malhis, ConEd ’24, said during AMS Assembly.
In one corner of the room, students held up signs with the names and photos of individuals, titled “Murdered by Israel.” Across the assembly table, students carried signs identifying hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Students from Palestinian and Israeli backgrounds shared their personal stories with Assembly. The AMS announced a member from the Peer Centre (PSC) was on standby outside.
During the discussion period, Palestinian students recalled being kicked out of clubs, and being alienated from their peers for discussing Palestine or organizing events showcasing Palestinian culture. Others spoke on the experiences of loved ones living in Palestine.
Throughout the statement period, Jewish students recounted similar experiences, describing antisemitism at Queen’s, such as the mezuzahs being torn down from doorways in residences. They told Assembly they felt uned and scared by the rise in antisemitic occurrences on Queen’s campus.
No member of AMS Assembly, including AMS and faculty society executives, responded to statements made by any students during the statement period.
READ MORE: Antisemitic incidents occur on and off Queen’s campus
“We didn’t receive any from any Social Issues Commission member to actually speak to us about our concerns when Jewish students were facing hate crimes on this very campus,” Nati Pressmann, ArtSci ’25, said at Assembly.
In the final moments of the meeting, Pressmann asked the AMS for the second time why the Social Issues Commissioners hadn’t ed the Jewish community in light of events on campus. Breaking student leaders’ silence, AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Victoria Mills responded on behalf of the commission.
“I think with the horrific acts of antisemitism that we’re observing in residences, the executive and I’ve made the call that a lot of these responses would come from us, and a lot of the communication will come from us,” Mills said during Assembly.
Mills said the decision was taken because of the sensitive nature of the topic, and the fact that the AMS executive has stronger connections with senior istration at the university.
Throughout the statement period, Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, and Muslim students came forward to propose future actions for student government. Speaker Sean Lee reminded attendees three times not to take videos or photos of students speaking, to protect the privacy of students choosing to speak up.
“Neutrality, when there’s a genocide and people are dying, is accepting the normal, and the normal right now is hundreds of people are dying by bombardment by the Israeli occupation,” Malhis said during his statement at Assembly.
Pressmann urged student leaders to maintain neutrality on the topic or risk alienating the students it represents—a toll Pressman feels hasn’t been upheld in of ing Jewish students.
“The AMS has always committed itself to remain a nonpartisan apolitical body, ensuring it’s effectively set up to represent every student at Queen’s equitably,” Pressmann said. “Your job is to make sure our life on campus feels safe and every student is safe and ed.”
After all statements were completed, SPHR gave their presentation. The presentation included a history leading up to the current conflict. The presentation cited the United Nations and Amnesty International’s description of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
“As elected and student officials it is your responsibility to hear and act upon your student constituents’ concerns and we ask that you us in standing against genocide and apartheid,” Yara Hussein, ArtSci ’24, said during SPHR’s presentation.
In a statement to The Journal, the AMS executive expressed their commitment to ensuring Queen’s is a safe place for everyone.
“We thank these students for coming to help discuss how their lives, as Queen’s students, are continuing to be affected. At the AMS, we remain dedicated in condemning any spread of hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia,” the statement said.
The AMS executive team has met regularly with the Dean of Student Affairs and the Vice-Provost to ensure academic accommodations are available to students impacted by the war. After the antisemitic vandalism in residences, KMV liaised with residence teams and the Office of Risk & Safety Services to discuss the incidents.
“Student voices must be heard through this challenging time, and the AMS will continue to remain in with and be available to student groups who wish to engage in further dialogue,” the statement said.
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OP
This is a poorly written article on a number of fronts. Technically speaking, the writing is unclear. Who is “Pressmann?” This person is never introduced. Why is SPHR mentioned but not Hillel, whom many students were representatives of? Factually, this article is misleading. Who was the AMS asking to not take pictures? It was distinctly Palestinian students being photographed without consent. No mention of the harassment Palestinian students and allies faced during the meeting. This is not unbiased journalism this is uninformed journalism. The integrity of the Journal comes from reporting the truth. It is unfortunate that this news article, and many others the Journal has published this year on Palestine, have failed to report the truth and failed to provide balanced coverage.
OP
Is the racist misconduct toward Palestinian students intentionally left out of this article? Palestinian students were deliberately targeted by other students present. As a Palestinian student described death and displacement within their family, attendees of the meeting laughed. Palestinian attendees were called “terrorists.” SPHR Queen’s posted a public statement detailing this discriminatory experience to their Instagram on November 23. This article worryingly misrepresents the events of the AMS Assembly meeting.