If you have walked around St. Thomas University, you have probably seen posters that read “Bombing hospitals is a war crime,” “Ceasefire now” and “If these were white kids facing genocide no one would remain silent” with a Palestinian flag at the bottom.
Initially created independently by a group of students, the posters displayed around STU’s campus in support of Palestine were taken down by facilities, according to communications director Ashlen Albright. She added the removal had nothing to do with political views but rather because they violated STU’s poster policy.
The policy, which was last updated on Feb. 6, 2023, says posters need to “display the name and contact information of the sponsoring group or organization; and must be sponsored by a group or organization affiliated with the University.”
“The facilities team just didn’t know where they came from so they weren’t sure what they were about, who was sponsoring it, what the intention was,” said Albright.
In response, international relations professor Shaun Narine said he decided to sponsor the posters after he received pictures of the first posters torn apart.
“I decided to put my name on it because I wanted to be sure that if there was any complaint in the future, it would become an issue of academic freedom,” said Narine. “If this became an argument about whether these posters were appropriate, then I’d be able to say, ‘this isn’t just about the expression of a particular political viewpoint, it’s coming from the international relations program.’”
For Narine, historically in countries like Canada, Palestinians have been “if not outright silenced … very muted” and their perspective is often “ignored or not understood.”
Narine believes that as human beings, we should allow the Palestinian voice to be heard.
He considers that students should be able to express political viewpoints on campus.
“When I spoke to the student involved, he told me that he had tried to be politically active on campus for a long time and that there were many roadblocks that were thrown up to his activism,” he said.
Albright said one of the reasons why there is a poster policy is to protect the freedom of expression on campus. She added that the change in policy is not in response to the pro-Palestinian posters, but because the university went back to making in-person events after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If there’s a policy in place that clearly outlines what is acceptable and what it’s not so that if something does cross the line there can be a discussion,” she said.
The policy was initially introduced on April 14, 2011, and is set to be reviewed by Feb. 1, 2027.
“We changed little things like that just to try to make it easier for people to follow the policy and then remind people that the policy exists,” she said.
As stated by the policy, a poster needs to be authorized by a Student Help Desk staff member before being placed on campus.
“It’s just a matter of knowing what’s going up around campus, rather than running into it and seeing it or hearing it from other people,” she said.
On March 14, the university provided an email notice reminding students about the policy saying that campus bulletin board use has increased since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
“To ensure appropriate use of the bulletin boards and avoid overcrowding resulting in important information being overlooked, please ensure adherence to the poster policy,” read the student notice.
