Last week’s occupation of the James Administration Building received much attention, as students and organizations responded to the tactics and motivations of the occupiers. The protest, a reaction to the McGill administration’s rejection of the CKUT and QPIRG referendum results of last fall, came to an end when the police evicted the nine remaining occupiers on Sunday.
Several organizations have openly declared their support for the occupiers, including “McGill Alumni for Real Change,” who wrote a letter denouncing the McGill administration.
“We are outraged—but in no way surprised—by the university administration’s continued disrespect for students, their initiatives, and the basic principles of democracy,” they wrote.
However, some student societies have been quick to express their disapproval of the occupiers’ actions. The presidents of the engineering, management, arts, and science students’ societies signed a letter collectively condemning the way that the occupiers’ tactics “alienate” students instead of encouraging greater student participation in campus dialogue.
Beni Fisch and Diego Zuluaga Laguna are two of the creators of a Facebook event called “The James 6th Floor occupiers do NOT represent me.” The page, which was started only one day into the occupation, is a reaction to what they call the “radicalization” of campus politics since Nov. 10.
“Speaking for myself, I was rather apathetic towards campus politics back then [Nov. 10],” Fisch said. “I was one of those students who just wanted to go to class, write my exams, get a good grade, et cetera, but it’s become too radical since then … this [the occupation of James Admin] was kind of the last straw.”
Fisch and Laguna’s event claims to represent the “silent majority” of students on McGill campus who do not agree with the tactics the occupiers used. By the time the protesters were evicted on Sunday, the event had received over 2, 000 attendees. Laguna, however, does not expect the student reaction to stop with the end of the occupation.
“Even though they’ve left the building … they don’t seem to have relinquished [their] tactics. It’s not clear whether they would use the same tactics again if they had the chance, and it’s precisely those tactics that we are against,” Laguna said. “This has been a movement in progress. It hasn’t just been a result of the occupation of the James Building itself—our goals go much further than just having the occupiers end their occupation.”
Further action by the group will involve the formation of a new campus body that will be open to everyone and will focus on creating positive change at McGill “without the use of confrontational tactics.” Co-creator Harmon Moon will also continue to collect signatures for a letter to the McGill administration, SSMU, and PGSS condemning the actions of the occupiers. The letter had around 400 signatures by the end of the occupation.
However, other students have found groups like “The 6th Floor Occupiers do NOT represent me” to be problematic because of their use of language—for example, the group’s “condemnation” of the sixth floor occupiers. At last Thursday’s SSMU Council, councillors and gallery members discussed the polarizing effect that this kind of language can have on students.
“I hear people calling the occupiers ‘radicals,’ Shyam Patel, VP Finance and Operations, said. “If we want open dialogue with a safe space, we need to not refer to each other with specific labels … We need to be realistic with this. Things are not going to change overnight … we need to progress slowly.”
“Occupation is a legitimate tactic,” Carol Fraser, VP Clubs and Services, said. “We have to realize and remember that it is something that people use when they feel frustrated, when they feel like their elected representatives don’t represent them, and when they feel like they have no other choice.”
Fisch, however, said that he thinks this language is necessary considering the campus’ current political climate.
“The problem is that when you have 20 people who are trying to impose their views, and use coercion methods to get their way over essentially almost 23,000 other students, you see that the campus is already polarized,” he said. “And the whole purpose of [our] group is to show that our disagreement is not with their final goals but with their tactics.”
Because of the widespread reactions they received from students, SSMU Council issued a statement in which they recognized the motivations of the occupiers, but looked forward to a “constructive outcome” to the situation. Although the occupation is now over, SSMU executives such as Emily Yee Clare, VP University Affairs, are aware that the protest has wider implications for the McGill community.
“It’s part of systematic grievances that people have at McGill,” Clare said. “It has to do with MUNACA; it has to do with Nov. 10; it has to do with so many forms of disempowerment.”
