SSJC Letter of Solidarity with Ebenezer Azamati

We, the Solidarity & Social Justice Committee of the Teaching Support Staff Union, stand in Solidarity with the Oxford University Africa Society in condemning the dehumanizing act metted to Mr. Ebenezer Azamati by the Oxford Union Society on October 17, 2019.

Our understanding is that the Oxford Union forcibly and violently removed Mr. Azamati, a Ghanaian blind student, from its chambers. The Union’s President, Brendan McGrath, who was absent at the scene later filed a complaint and falsely accused Mr. Azamati for violent behaviour. It is evident from the video that went viral that Mr. Azamati was helpless given his condition and did not behave violently as he is accused. 

In the video we observe footage that is not different from any other racist police/security brutality against Black people in Western countries. We also know that McGrath later redrew the accusation leveled at Mr. Azamati after the video went viral. Our attention has also been drawn to the fact that Mr. Azamati was arranged before the disciplinary committee based on this false accusation, and was not allowed to bring his witnesses to the hearing which concluded with suspending Mr. Azamati’s Union membership till May 2020. This is not only an act of injustice but also racist and we unequivocally condemn it as a Committee.

We have read Oxford University’s statement indicating that the Union is an independent body and has nothing to do with the said action. While we acknowledge the independence of the Union, we also find this gesture by the University is irresponsible. It is the University’s duty to ensure its students’ rights are protected and that they are treated humanely, irrespective of their race, status, religion, or ability.

We therefore call on Oxford University to unreservedly apologize to Mr. Azamati, and institute measures to ensure that no such acts of racism and injustice is experienced by students anywhere on campus. Secondly, the officers who were at duty and acted on the orders of the Union should be penalized accordingly to serve as a deterrent to others. No human being deserves to be treated inhumanely.

Therefore, we reiterate the following demands by the Oxford University Africa Society that:

  1. An unreserved public apology to Mr. Azamati by the Oxford Union and the President, Brendan McGrath;
  2. The recantation of Mr. Azamati’s ban and a reinstatement of his Oxford Union membership;
  3. Adequate punishment of the security personnel who assaulted Mr. Azamati;
  4. Compensation agreed with Mr. Azamati; and 
  5. The resignation of Bredan McGrath as the President of the Oxford Union.

In Solidarity,

Solidarity & Social Justice Committee

Teaching Support Staff Union

ssjc@tssu.ca

Open Letter to President Petter Opposing the new MSP Health Coverage Fee for International Students

Dear President Andrew Petter,

We, the international students community at Simon Fraser University, strongly oppose the imposition of the new MSP health coverage fee and condemn the University for failing to take proactive steps to ensure international student workers, including TAs, TMs, and Sessionals, have these required premiums paid by the University.

Starting on September 1, 2019 an additional premium component, a Health Coverage Fee of $37.50/month, was added to the cost of MSP for international students. This fee increases to $75/month as of January 1, 2020. International student workers are currently receiving letters from Revenue Services BC indicating payment will be due in November 2019. Our understanding is that you have not yet agreed to:

We believe that MSP premiums for SFU’s international student workers have to be fully covered by SFU in order to ensure equity and fairness for international students. For single international student workers, failing to cover the fee will result in a loss of $150 dollars during Fall 2019 and a loss of $300 dollars next term. For those who have a partner and a child this amount would go upward from $450 during Fall 2019 and from $900 for every following term. This is exclusive of the extended health care charges included in international students’ tuition fees.

International student workers already face substantial barriers in accessing education. This failure to cover MSP premiums adds to those barriers and treats us as second-class student workers. This violates the basic principles of what constitutes a community. It prioritizes citizenship and permanent residence status as requirements to grant full rights and membership to the university community and a betrayal to international student workers, to whom the University pledges a conducive learning environment. How conducive is an environment that exploits, extorts, and violates the rights of a critical mass of its population?

Our work as TAs, TMs, and SIs contributes significantly to the SFU community and should be duly recognized. We are students who work and provide vital labour force at SFU and have rights. We should be treated as full members of the SFU community. The first step towards that would be ensuring that SFU Administration confirm it will cover international student workers’ MSP Premiums.

Finally, it is important to recognize that what affects international students does not just affect international students.  It affects us all. SFU prides itself on being an institution with a global outlook, “engaging the world”. It is lamentable that the university would invite the world in, and then turn their backs on them in this manner.

Given how time-sensitive and how significantly this impacts the SFU community, we demand you respond urgently to our union to ensure our MSP premiums are paid in full.

Signed

International Students Workers and Allies

View and sign the letter.

Statement On the Anti-Trans #GIDYVR Event

The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) condemns the upcoming #GIDYVR event to be held at SFU’s Harbour Centre campus on November 2nd, 2019. The #GIDYVR “How Media Bias Shapes the Gender Identity Debate” event has raised concerns among LGBTQ2IA+ communities and allies due to the speakers’ histories with transphobic and other problematic discourses. Known transexclusionary radical feminist and SFU alumna Meghan Murphy is slated as a guest speaker at the event along with similarly controversial speakers, “free-speech” advocate Lindsay Shepherd, Quillette editor Jonathan Kay, and Post-Millennial journalist Anna Slatz. Though this panel is objectionable for several reasons, Murphy has been especially controversial, having been banned from Twitter as a result of their transphobic language, and having caused the Vancouver Public Library to be banned from the Vancouver Pride Parade for hosting an event on their premises.

While SFU has released a statement expressing their concern for “equity, diversity and inclusion,” the permittance of such an event to be held on SFU campus demonstrates a lack of commitment to protecting and advocating for trans/non-binary students, faculty and community members within this institution. Using “free speech” and “academic freedom” as clauses for validating these events neglects the power dynamics of the dominant culture over LGBTQ2IA+ people. Further, the premise that gender identity is up for “debate” fundamentally questions trans and non-binary people’s identities. This event cannot go forward. By allowing it to take place, SFU runs the risk of opening the university to more hate speech events like #GIDYVR, similar to the rise of controversial UBC “free speech” events that have included noted and disgraced white nationalists as speakers.

It is also worth noting this event takes place in the context of rising antagonism towards trans and non-binary people across SFU’s campuses. As the Simon Fraser Student Society’s LGBTQ2IA+ resource centre, Out on Campus, recently wrote:

At a time when our #WeJustNeedToPee posters are being vandalised with transphobic slurs, SFU has decided to host speakers validating these views under the auspices of free speech. Yet the University also claims to be "deeply committed" to the very communities it is harming and neglecting. The University cannot have it both ways; if their commitment to diversity holds any weight at all, they will cancel this event.

As such, it is more important than ever to stand with SFU’s trans, non-binary, and LGBTQ2IA+ communities whose legitimacy, safety, and personhood are directly questioned by this event, listen to them, and take appropriate action to ensure their safety and security on campus.

As a feminist union, the TSSU denounces the #GIDYVR event, stands in solidarity with trans and non-binary people, and calls on the University to cancel this event. We further stand with The Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, SFSS Out on Campus, and all other members and groups who have spoken out against this event. SFU must live up to its values and take accountability for the harm the event will cause to the communities on campus.  

In solidarity,

Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU)

tssu@tssu.ca