I’m happy to share and enter into the public record that the Dalhousie Faculty Association has now passed all three motions my colleagues and I (many many more than who are listed as movers and seconders in the motions).
Here is the text of the three motions, for any other organizations that would like to adapt it, draw on it in any way, to help your associations move in this direction. We certainly benefitted from our colleagues at different universities as well. Important to note that the DFA passed Motion 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3 across two AGM meetings held in May and in June. We did NOT include the preamble clauses in what we passed, those are shared here for context only.
I had the chance to speak with Todd Veinotte from City News about the recently passed motions concerning Gaza passed by the Dalhousie Faculty Association at our AGM in May. We continued the meeting in June, where the membership voted to adopt the third motion supporting Palestinian students on June 11, the day after this interview. You can hear our conversation, starting just before the 19 minute mark.
For additional context, these motions at different stages were also covered by The Coast, picking up on the importance of “scholasticide” here and also by CBC Television here (time 9:03), CBC Radio here and CBC online here.
The hypocrisies and racism with respect to how settler colonies treat Palestine and Palestinians is deplorable. My sincere gratitude to the students around the world who set up encampments to force society to pay attention to the genocide unfolding in real time. Without the group of students across universities in the Kjipuktuk (Halifax) region joining together to form Al Zeitoun University in the Dalhousie Quad where they have been literally holding space for teach ins, activism, and organizing for justice. I posted recently about my appreciation for the leadership of students in 2024 here. We continue, students and faculty together now, to implement the substance of these motions in good faith with our institutions.
Ajay Parasram 