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McGill University says it has asked Montreal police to investigate after its downtown campus was hit by antisemitic graffiti and intimidation.
Two senior McGill administrators on Friday urged students and staff to report such incidents to campus security.
“In recent days, our campus has seen hate incidents, ranging from graffiti to intimidation of members of our campus community — acts which any reasonable person would consider antisemitic,” they said in an email.
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The two administrators are the university’s provost, Christopher Manfredi, and Fabrice Labeau, vice-president of administration and finance.
They said McGill security officers are working with Montreal police “to provide video or other evidence needed to identify suspects.”
They added: “We will also immediately start disciplinary processes against any person identified as a member of the McGill community involved in these appalling events.”
Manfredi and Labeau asked members of the McGill community who “see incidents or speech on campus targeting a person or group based on their race, religion, ethnicity or other grounds” to immediately report them to campus security.
“As (McGill) president Deep Saini has stated many times, antisemitism, like any form of hate, has no place on campus. We know that the McGill community unites behind us in unequivocally condemning these acts and in reaffirming our commitment to a campus free of discrimination, violence and hate.”
McGill has been rocked by turmoil since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October 2023.
Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied part of the downtown campus for 75 days before a private security firm dismantled their encampment on July 10.
Riot police were called to some pro-Palestinian protests at McGill after windows were smashed and an administration building was occupied.
Quebec’s higher education minister has said she’s worried that tensions will boil over on university campuses in the run-up to the first anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the beginning of Israel’s retaliation.
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