McGill adviser quits over 'escalating pattern of hostility' toward Jews

The chair of McGill Law School’s Faculty Advisory Board resigned on Sunday in a public letter, faulting university leaders for turning a blind eye to antisemitism on campus.

“Over the past two and a half years, I have observed an escalating pattern of hostility toward Jewish students, faculty, and alumni met with persistent inaction,” Jonathan Amiel wrote in a letter  addressed to McGill Law School dean Tina Piper.

“An institution once defined by intellectual rigour and principled debate has, in too many instances, become an environment where being Jewish, identifying as a Zionist, or maintaining any association with the State of Israel carries professional and personal risk,” he continued.

Amiel’s decision was triggered by a recent referendum  by the Law Students’ Association (LSA) that supported amending the group’s constitution to boycott Israeli academic bodies.

The vote, which ended on March 21, was backed  by roughly 57 per cent of McGill law students who cast a ballot and opposed by 43 per cent. It is unclear what the next steps are for the student association, given its bylaws  state constitutional amendments must be passed by a two-thirds supermajority.

The LSA did not respond to National Post’s request for comment.

Amiel said the “outcome makes clear that this is no longer a student body I can support, either financially or through the considerable time and effort I have invested in their academic and professional development.”

A "revolutionary youth summer program" being run by participants of the encampment at McGill University, especially one that glorifies violence and terror, is unacceptable.@mcgillu must immediately launch an investigation into the activities of SPHR, shut this program down and… pic.twitter.com/U8DMJPcZMp

— Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (@CanadianFSWC) June 14, 2024

McGill has become a focal point of anti-Israel activism since October 7. Activists have screamed at Jewish students to “Go back to Poland” and chanted  “Viva, via, intifada” on the Montreal-based campus. Student groups have celebrated the October 7 atrocities perpetrated by Hamas, calling them acts of “liberation” and have shared posters promoting a “revolutionary youth summer program” featuring keffiyeh-clad militants holding machine guns. In early March, antisemitic graffiti  in bathroom stalls at the university’s faculty of medicine featured messages like “Jews out of McGill Med” and “Kill all Jews.”

Amiel spoke generally in his open letter, published on LinkedIn, about the failure of McGill administrators to intervene “without meaningful consequence” as students engaged in disruptive behaviours. Amiel, the managing director of private equity firm Saturnia Asset Management, underscored that his letter was not calling into question “the personal integrity or intentions of McGill’s leadership,” whom he said he respected.

This was taken during today's protest at McGill University.Conspiracy theories, especially ones with racist and hateful messages have no place in our institutions of higher learning.#Cdnpoli #antisemitism @mcgillu pic.twitter.com/uXVYwMFxfM

— David Jacobs (@DrJacobsRad) March 28, 2024

“However, institutional responsibility turns on action, not intention. The defining feature of this period has been an absence of decisive leadership at moments when clarity and resolve were required,” he continued. “In that absence, direction has effectively been ceded to actors whose objectives are fundamentally misaligned with the University’s core academic mission.”

Amiel also resigned his position as a course lecturer and copied senior McGill administrators in his letter, including president Deep Saini, chancellor Pierre Boivin and Marc Weinstein, the vice-president of university advancement.

“This referendum was advanced within an independent student association over which the University does not exercise direct authority,” Saini wrote in a letter published Tuesday , shared with the Post.

Saini’s strongly worded message, directed to the “McGill Law community,” maintained that the university would distance itself from any group that sought to implement such policies and underscored that the administration viewed them as targeting Jewish students.

“The effects here are antisemitic, and that plain fact must guide McGill’s response,” Saini continued. “Accordingly, McGill cannot and will not remain in a contractual relationship with a student association that incorporates such amendments into its governance framework.”

The president added that the motion “triggers a positive duty of care…to confront these impacts and to ensure a safe climate for all, free from discrimination.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), a Canadian Jewish political group, pointed the Post to a statement published Tuesday afternoon noting, “We are deeply concerned by the ongoing developments within student governance at McGill University Faculty of Law.”

The message criticized the boycott campaign targeting Israel and touched on Amiel’s resignation, saying it “further underscores the seriousness of the situation.”

Amiel, who could not be reached for comment, expressed his “sincere hope that this resignation may stand as the most meaningful contribution I can now make.”

“If it serves, even in some small measure, to prompt the reflection and course correction necessary to restore this University as a genuinely welcoming and principled environment for Jewish students, scholars, and faculty, then it will have had a purpose.”

• 'We feel alone': Jews wonder if they have a future at McGill University
• Corey Miller: The writing is on the wall for Jews at McGill University

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