Open Letter to President Gertler on Hate Speech on

Campus
Toronto, August 21, 2017

Dear President Gertler,

We, the undersigned faculty members, staff, and students, are writing to express our deep concerns
regarding the University Administrations belated and limited reaction to the planned "nationalist" rally
scheduled to take place on campus on Sept. 14. While your twitter response and statement of August
16, 2017 (http://www.president.utoronto.ca/presidents-statement-on-acts-of-violence-and-hate-in-
charlottesville-virginia ) were a start, they were certainly not enough considering the alarming rise of
racism, hate speech, and bigotry in Toronto, Canada, the United States, and the world. We note that,
when asked if the University would even entertain a request to hold the rally on its grounds, rather than
categorically reject this possibility, spokesperson Althea Blackburn-Evans told CBC news: "I can't
speculate on how we might respond to a booking request... We consider any space bookings on a case-
by-case basis" (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/university-of-toronto-nationalist-rally-1.4247068).
The University Administration finally issued a statement addressing directly the matter only on August
17--four full days after the event was announced on Facebook (https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-will-not-
permit-use-campus-toronto-nationalist-rally). But even that statement fell short of an unequivocal
declaration that UofT space cannot be used to promote hate speech. Hiding behind procedural
arguments (because of concerns about the safety of students, faculty, staff and the public) it still failed
to address the root issue, in our opinion, namely the very admissibility of hate speech on campus. Would
the University consider more favourably a booking request from the Nationalist Party of Canada (or any
other fascist and racist organization) if the organizers offered to pay for extra security, or perhaps bring in
their own militias?

We would like to raise a second point. While potentially efficient PR strategies, we believe that social
media should not be the only mode by which the Presidents office communicates with members of the
UofT community. Several of us (and surely many other faculty, staff, and students) are not on twitter and
do not follow UofTs facebook page. As a result, we only learned about your responses belatedly,
through colleagues. The seriousness of the issues at stake - in view of the terrorist act in Charlottesville
this past weekend and the unfolding events since - warranted a much quicker, stronger, and louder
response, addressed directly to all members of the UofT community via all available channels. In
contrast to CUPEs (https://cupe.ca/statement-cupe-national-president-mark-hancock-and-national-
secretary-treasurer-charles-fleury-white?utm_medium=rss) and UTFAs
(https://www.utfa.org/content/utfa-statement-hate-speech-university-and-college-campuses ) letters to
their members, your statements, with no addressee and limited circulation, read more like generic press
releases than letters to the University of Toronto community.

As students, staff, and faculty at the University of Toronto, we are particularly aware of the devastating
consequences of academic silence in the face of extreme right movements and fascist ideologies. We
cannot emphasize strongly enough that Canada is not immune to these processes and has its own
legacies of tremendous gendered and racialized violence (much of it with academic complicity), the
effects of which members of our University Community experience daily in the present. The invocation of
free speech to justify providing a platform for those advocating bigotry and hatred is a similarly familiar
strategy. As an institution committed to open and rigorous inquiry, the University of Toronto should reject
this abuse of free speech forcefully and unequivocally and instead use our considerable power to ensure
the wellbeing of all members of our community and our collective commitment to the pursuit of truth and
justice.

In view of the above, we wish to register our thorough disappointment at the Administrations weak
statements thus far and your offices lack of leadership in this matter. We urge you to take concrete
actions to address our concerns with the rise of hate speech within and beyond campus. Given the
serious current threats to the values of critical thinking, tolerance, and inclusivity that the University of
Toronto claims among its guiding principles (http://www.president.utoronto.ca/statement-on-anti-
semitism-and-racism), we owe it to ourselves and to our students and alumni to *proactively* stand
against fascism and bigotry. We thank you very much in advance for your attention and look forward to
your response.

Sincerely,
1. Clement Andrew, Information, UTSG
2. Susan Antebi, Spanish and Portuguese, UTSG
3. Beverly Bain, Historical Studies/WGS, UTM
4. Abigail Bakan, SJE, UTSG
5. Cline Bauwe, IBBME, UTSG
6. Rima Berns-McGown, Historical Studies, UTM
7. Ellen Berrey, Sociology, UTM
8. Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Critical Development Studies, UTSC
9. Katherine Blouin, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
10. William Bowen, Arts, Culture and Media UTSC
11. Yael, Brotman, Arts Culture and Media, UTSC
12. Bonnie Burstow, Leadership Higher & Adult Education, UTSG
13. Benjamin Patrick Butler, Geography and Planning, UTSG
14. James Cahill, Cinema Studies Institute, UTSG
15. Lora Carney, Arts, Culture and Media (retired), UTSC
16. Leslie Chan, Centre for Critical Development Studies, UTSC
17. Andrea Charise, English and Interdisciplinary Centre for Health & Society (ICHS), UTSC
18. Li Chen, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
19. Jennifer Chun, Sociology, UTSC
20. Vanessa Cimon-Lambert, Comparative Literature, UTSG
21. George Elliott Clarke, English, UTSG
22. Francis Cody, Anthropology, UTM
23. Corinn Columpar, Cinema Studies Institute, UTSG
24. Deborah Cowen, Geography & Planning, UTSG
25. Mara Cristina Cuervo, Spanish & Portuguese/Linguistics, UTSG
26. Jody, Cundy Historical Studies, UTM
27. Hilary Cunningham, Anthropology, UTSG
28. Matthew da Mota, Centre for Comparative Literature, UTSG
29. Girish Daswani, Anthropology, UTSC
30. Chandler Davis, Mathematics, UTSG
31. Simone Davis, Ethics, Society & Law, UTSG
32. Kari Dehli, SJE, OISE, UTSG
33. George Dei, Social Justice Education, UTSC
34. Ken Derry, Historical Studies, UTM
35. James Deutsch, Psychiatry, UTSG
36. Husseina Dinani, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
37. Andrew DuBois, English, UTSC
38. Theresa Enright, Political Science, UTSG
39. Indigo Esmonde, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, UTSG
40. Matthew Farish, Geography and Planning, UTSG
41. Peter Fitting, French/Cinema Studies, UTSG
42. Takashi Fujitani, History, UTSG
43. Donna Gabaccia, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
44. David Galbraith, English, UTSG
45. Frances Garrett, Study of Religion, UTSG
46. Leonard Garry, English, UTSC
47. Stephen Geigen-Miller, Faculty of Medicine, UTSG
48. Corinne Gerber, Centre for Comparative Literature, UTSG
49. Michael Gervers, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
50. Alexandra Gillespie, English and Drama, UTM
51. Columba Gonzalez, Anthropology, UTSC
52. Kanishka Goonewardena, Geography and Planning, UTSG
53. William Graham, Philosophy, UTSC
54. Anup Grewal, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
55. Yi Gu, Arts, Culture & Media, UTSC
56. Connie Guberman, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
57. Atiqa Hachimi, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
58. Rick Halpern, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
59. Jens Hanssen, NMC, UTSG
60. Kamal Hassan, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
61. Jennifer Harris, Study of Religion, UTSG
62. Paula Hastings, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
63. Natasha Hay, Comparative Literature, UTSG
64. Monica Heller, SJE/Anthropology, UTSG
65. Regina Hschele, Classics, UTSG
66. Franca Iacovetta, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
67. Pilcher Jeffrey, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
68. Jennifer Jenkins, History, UTSG
69. Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Language Studies, UTM
70. Russ Kazal, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
71. Lauren Kepkiewicz, Geography and Planning, UTSG
72. Katie Kilroy-Marac, Anthropology, UTSC
73. Rosanne King, Arts, Culture and Media, UTSC
74. Nicole Laliberte, Geography, UTM
75. Tong Lam, Historical Studies, UTM
76. Roland Le Huenen, French, UTSG
77. Victor Li, English and Comparative Literature, UTSG
78. Agi Lukacs, Retired from Transitional Year Programme, UTSG
79. Meaghan Marian, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
80. Ruth Marshall, Political Science/ Study of Religion, UTSG
81. Krista Maxwell, Anthropology, UTSG
82. Lance McCready, LHAE, UTSG
83. Kiran Mirchandani, OISE,
84. Shahrzad Mojab, LHAE, UTSG
85. Andrea Muehlebach, Anthropology, UTM
86. William Nelson, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
87. Melanie J. Newton, History, Caribbean Studies, UTSG
88. Neil Nunn, Geography and Planning, UTSG
89. Julian Patrick, English, UTSG
90. Alejandro Paz, Anthropology, UTSC
91. Franco Pierno, Italian Studies, UTSG
92. Juliana Pivato, Arts, Culture and Media, UTSC
93. John Portelli, Social Justice Education, UTSG
94. Kristopher Poulin-Thibault, Comparative Literature, UTSG
95. Brian Price, Visual Studies, UTM
96. Olga Pugliese, Italian Studies/Victoria College, UTSG
97. Jack Quarter, Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, UTM
98. Bhavani Raman, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
99. Ajay Rao, Historical Studies, UTM
100. Denise Reaume, Law, UTSG
101. Stephen Rockel, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
102. Natalie Rothman, Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC
103. Sherida Ryan, Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, UTSG
104. Sara Saljoughi, English, UTSC & Cinema Studies Institute, UTSC
105. Nicholas Sammond, Cinema Studies Institute, UTSG
106. Rosa Sarabia, Spanish and Portuguese, UTSG
107. Manuela Scarci, Italian/Renaissance Studies, UTSC
108. Andre Schmid, East Asian Studies, UTSG
109. Suzanne Sicchia, Interdisciplinary Centre for Health & Society, UTSC
110. Joan Simalchik, Women and Gender Studies, UTM
111. Luca Somigli, Italian Studies, UTSC
112. Andre Sorensen, Human Geography, UTSC
113. Paula Sperdakos, Arts, Culture and Media, UTSC
114. Lindsay Stephens, Geography, UTSC
115. Alison Syme, Visual Studies, UTM
116. Judith Taylor, Sociology/ WGSI, UTSG
117. Bart Testa, Cinema Studies Institute, UTSG
118. Tanya Titchkosky, Social Justice Education, UTSG
119. Miguel Torrens, University of Toronto Libraries, UTSG
120. Nhung Tran, History, UTSG
121. Daniel Tysdal, English, UTSC
122. Karina Vernon, English, UTSC
123. Marcelo Vieta, Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, UTM
124. Lynne Viola, History, UTSG
125. Erin L. Webster, Arts, Culture and Media, UTSC
126. Elisabeth Wilhelm, Comparative Literature, UTSG
127. Lisa Yoneyama, East Asian Studies, UTSG
128. Alberto Zambenedetti, Italian Studies / Cinema Studies Institute, UTSG
129. Adam Zendel, Geography and Planning, UTSG