Media Watch

In the last few months, numerous racist attacks have targeted Muslims at Queen’s. Among them were graffiti calling for the death of all Muslims, and break-ins to the Queen’s Muslim Student Association (QUMSA), resulting – as Principal Tom Williams noted in a letter to our community – in the loss of a sense of safety for Muslims on campus. Principal Williams urged a respectful exchange of ideas over difference. Dean Alistair MacLean similarly discussed the responsibility of dominant groups to be sensitive to the vulnerabilities of minority groups. Both letters appealed for adherence to Canadian values of inclusiveness and diversity, but neither Principal Williams nor Dean MacLean committed the university to a zero tolerance policy towards the perpetrators of such incidents.

These incidents are not new to Queen’s and have been studied by the comprehensive Report on Race Relations of the Principal’s Advisory Committee (1991), and by the independent Henry Report (2006), which offered a thorough overview as well as practical suggestions to combat racism and the Culture of Whiteness at Queen’s. Only few of the recommendations of the Henry Report were adopted, and little has changed.
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By Dorit Naaman
Film and Media Studies
on behalf of the Queen’s Coalition of Anti Racist Faculty (QCARF)

Dear Principal Williams, Vice-Principal Deane and Dean Laker,

We write this letter to you because we cannot imagine that anyone, particularly those in a university-setting, should fear persecution based on race, religion or creed. The multiple instances of harassment of students wearing head-scarves, the inscription of “Queen’s University Muslims Should Die” onto QUMSA’s space and the most recent attempted break-in are but a few examples of hostility toward the Queen’s Muslim community. We, the undersigned Muslim students and Muslim leaders, urge Queen’s to take immediate steps to reassert its esteemed status as an institution at which all students can strive for intellectual, academic and personal excellence, free of intolerance.

The university is a uniquely dynamic and diverse setting. Queen’s University, in particular, hosts students from 125 countries around the world. Such pluralism enriches the intellectual and social experiences of all students. Diversity can only flourish, however, where the integration and accommodation of minority populations is prioritized. Muslim students in Canadian universities have generally enjoyed the active support of their respective universities. Queen’s is amongst those schools to have taken active measures in the spirit of inclusion. Since 2000, the University has adopted a Harassment/Discrimination Complaint Policy and Procedure which encourages university members “to strive to create an environment free of harassment and discrimination” and has even created a Human Rights Office to ensure the attainment of this goal. On a more personal level, Queen’s Muslim students have enjoyed collegial relations with university administrative members, the latter of whom have participated in numerous events organized by the Queen’s Muslim community. These efforts are undoubtedly valued by Queen’s minority communities.

In a similar manner, the recent incidents with respect to Queen’s Muslim students call for the decisive action that is warranted by the severity of these incidents. The University must not hesitate to immediately condemn hateful expressions of intolerance directed at any of its members. Healing the community, however, requires more proactive measures than ex post facto condemnation. Policies and programs that foster relations between university administrators, faculty, students and Queen’s Muslim community are worth pursuing. By their results, these measures ought to reassure the Queen’s Muslim community that intolerance will not be accepted. Queen’s can assert its commitment to cultivating an environment that is conducive to the intellectual, academic and personal well-being of its students by taking resolute action.

On behalf of Muslim students from across the country, we look forward to seeing Queen’s University take steadfast action to remedy the current situation.

Yours Sincerely,
Association des Étudiants Musulmans de l’Université de Montréal
Association des Étudiants Musulmans de l’Université de Québec à Montréal
Association des Étudiant(e)s Musulman(e)s de l’Université Laval
Maritime Muslim Students’ Association
Muslim Students’ Association at the University of Manitoba
Muslim Students’ Association of Concordia University
Muslim Students’ Association of McGill University
Muslim Students’ Association of the University of Windsor
Muslim Students’ Association of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Ryerson Muslim Students’ Association
Simon Fraser University Muslim Students’ Association
South Western Ontario Muslim Students’ Association
University of Calgary Muslim Students’ Association
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton - Muslim Students’ Association
University of Waterloo Muslim Students’ Association
University of Western Ontario Muslim Students’ Association
York Muslim Students’ Association

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There has been much talk lately about diversity, tolerance and, yes, even racism, on and around the Queen’s campus. The debate has even spilled over onto the walls, in the form of what has been called “subversive” graffiti. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subversion as an attempt to overthrow or ruin a political regime, from the Latin subvertere, to turn from beneath. Although I cannot say for sure, it seems unlikely that the authors of slogans such as “Kill the cracker in yur head” were hoping to incite a rebellion against any government, student or otherwise. They may, however, have been taking aim at white privilege in one of the places where it is located. That is certainly a well-established regime and always political.

This having been said, I very much doubt that the graffiti in question displaced much mental sod. To do so would require that the citizenry, as it were, possess at least a basic understanding of how racism works, of what it does and how it does it. As far as I can see, this kind of knowledge is pretty much absent among those who have not already been subverted by the daily and nightly effects of living with prejudice and hatred.
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The first time Enakshi Dua realized she wasn’t comfortable at Queen’s was during a trip to Toronto in December of her first year living in Kingston.

Dua, now a sociology professor at York University, taught at Queen’s from 1994 to 2001, when she was one of the first faculty members of colour to leave the University because of discrimination.

“In December I came to visit Toronto and I visited IKEA,” Dua said. “I start walking in IKEA and after about five minutes I’m smiling and I’m thinking, ‘Why am I smiling? I hate IKEA!’ What I realized was subconsciously, two things were happening. I was surrounded by people of colour, but more importantly no one was staring at me. I wasn’t standing out. In the previous three months I stood out and people noticed me in a different way. I t started becoming embodied in me unconsciously. I started to relax and smile in a place where I rarely smile. It’s not easy always to point out what’s happening, but it’s constant in your life. You walk into a restaurant, in the classrooms in Mac-Corry, you overhear conversations between colleagues and other people where they’re talking about people of colour in stereotypes. All of this made me feel like I was standing out.”
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At ASUS Assembly on Thursday night, Jacob Mantle announced he would not be resigning as ASUS president.

Mantle was asked to resign by the AMS executive, Queen’s students and student groups, following a comment he posted on a friend’s Facebook wall. The comment, ‘I like your Taliban picture’ was made in response to a photo of two girls wearing scarves and sunglasses.

In a statement to ASUS Assembly, Mantle said he would not step down as ASUS President.

“A thoughtless remark has had more implications than anyone could ever imagine. … I will not be stepping down as ASUS President but will be stepping forward to meet this challenge,” he said.

ASUS Assembly was held in Wallace Hall which quickly reached capacity. This resulted in a large number of students waiting outside the hall for the duration of the Assembly.
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Queen’s campus received an unwelcome paint job last week as five cases of offensive graffiti were reported to campus security on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2.

The first incident was reported at 5:38 a.m. On Oct. 31 on the wall of Beamish-Munro Hall, beside the Tea Room; the words “Queen’s Spirit: Bigotry, Queen’s Tradition: Denial” were spray painted on the wall.

This was followed by two reports made at 9:55 a.m. that morning. Graffiti was found outside Mackintosh-Corry Hall, which said “kill the cracker in yur head.” The second was of white paint poured over the Queen’s University sign on the corner of Union Street and University Avenue. The phrase “expect resistance” was written on the ground in red paint.

At 2 p.m., “expect resistance” was found spray-painted on the front door of the ASUS CORE.
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On Friday night, Rachel Kucharczuk’s routine trip to the grocery store was disrupted by the discovery of anti-Semitic comments smeared on the front and back of her car.

“I was in bed with the flu all day and I came out to my car to get some ginger ale. I got into the front seat of my car and my car was backed into my driveway. My driveway is between my fence and my house and it was backed in all the way, so I sat in my front seat and I warmed up my car and saw four swastikas on my windshield,” she said. “I went to the grocery store and went to my trunk to get my reusable grocery bags and on the back of my thing I see four swastikas and the words ‘Dirty Jew’ written on the back.”
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What is Islamophobia? How is it affecting the Queen's community and society at large.
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Re: “Racism on the web” (Journal, Oct. 28, 2008)

Alternative Jewish Voices is a newly formed group of like-minded members in the Kingston and Queen’s communities. We stand in solidarity with all those opposing racism and discrimination in all its forms. As a group which provides an alternative space for Jews on this campus, we recognize the need for dialogue and discussion on some of the contributing factors to rising Islamophobia. Providing a space for challenging and unlearning policies of oppression and violence is critical to dismantling prevailing stereotypes which have been foisted on both Jews and Muslims.

At this time, we urge the Queen’s and broader Kingston community to take a close look at our role in perpetuating discrimination. In the wake of an escalating number of racist attacks against faculty and classmates which have included break-ins, vandalism, verbal assaults and physical threats toward racialized students (of all ethnic and religious backgrounds), the members of Alternative Jewish Voices were horrified to learn that one of the leaders of Queen’s largest and most prominent student organizations had himself posted an expression of hatred and bigotry on the web. There is no place at Queen’s and no room at ASUS for a person like Jacob Mantle who feels free to make such blatantly bigoted comments at any time, but particularly when our Muslim classmates, faculty and teachers are under daily attack. We call upon all members of the Queen’s community to seriously consider endorsing QCRED’s call to action and in doing so seriously reflect upon who is representing our collective voice. Jacob Mantle as well as our student organizations and media, must be held accountable for irresponsible practices and racially or religiously derogatory comments which reflect on the community as a whole and which subject our classmates to a climate of denigration and violence.
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