#ConcordiaUniversity, are you not ashamed?
Sign our open letter demanding that Concordia immediately end their contract with Perceptage, a security contractor run by a former IDF soldier: tinyurl.com/Sign-On-Lett...
#montreal #palestine #endthegenocide #idfoffcampus
Open to local and international academic communities + Concordia community incl. alumni.
Please sign if you can and help us send #ConcordiaUniversity a message that the IOF does not belong on our university campuses! #montreal #palestine #copsoffcampus #idfoffcampus
1 of 4 - Open Letter Slide that reads: We, the undersigned Concordia faculty, students, staff, alumni; members of the Montreal community; as well as members of the broader Canadian and international academic community are deeply shocked and appalled by Concordia University's decision to hire the contractor Perceptage for the purpose of policing, surveillance, and targeting their students. Since October 7, 2023, the university administration has called for a “safe and respectful” space for all, “where we can debate, discuss and explore different, even polarizing, ideas”. Yet we now know that the university hired a security contractor run by a former IDF soldier. Furthermore, employees of this firm who have been coordinating activities with Concordia security include former IDF soldiers or reservists and veterans of the Canadian military. The presence of this Israeli-linked security company on Concordia's campus further intensifies a climate of intimidation, repression and violence that those standing in solidarity with Palestine have been enduring.
2 of 4 - Open Letter Slide that reads: For over a year, thousands of Concordia University students have mobilized in support of Palestine and in opposition to what the International Court of Justice has described as a plausible genocide in Gaza. Students and their organizations have repeatedly demanded that the university disclose its investments and divest from Israeli apartheid. The university administration has consistently refused students' demands and claimed political neutrality. However, Concordia's decision to contract an Israel-linked security contractor, whose CEO supports Israel's ongoing occupation and war crimes, starkly exposes its one-sided position. In this context, the university's stated commitment to decolonization and to equity, diversity and inclusion rings hollow and hypocritical.
3 of 4 - Open Letter Slide that reads: The presence of this security company, above and beyond the already heightened policing on campus, is traumatizing for Palestinian and Lebanese members of Concordia's community, many of whom have lost family or have family presently facing displacement, siege and starvation. The militarization of Concordia's campus is also triggering for other BIPOC and 2+LGBTQ members, especially considering that Concordia's Campus Safety and Prevention Services coordinate regularly with Montreal's Police Services (SPVM) - a police force who were, as recently as September 2024, found to be engaged in systematic racial profiling by a Quebec Superior Court judge.
4 of 4 - Open Letter Slide that reads: The decision by the Concordia administration to hire Perceptage undermines the community-building work which is so vital at this moment in the history of the university. Heightened security and militarized policing should not be the way the university interfaces with its students, staff and faculty. We, the undersigned, request an immediate end to the contract with Perceptage, and call for full transparency into who was involved in hiring this company and what procedures were followed to procure its services.
3/3 - Here is our open letter to #ConcordiaUniversity, feel free to share the slides! #montreal #palestine #idfoffcampus #copsoffcampus
