U of W locks doors over safety concerns as protest continues Students, staff, visitors must show ID to enter buildings By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 6:32 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 14, 2024

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This article was published 14/05/2024 (536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg has locked its doors to the public outside over safety concerns related to a pro-Palestinian encampment erected on school grounds last week.

Access to campus buildings is being limited to current students, faculty, staff and visitors attending for “a legitimate academic purpose,” the university announced Monday. Those seeking access to campus buildings will be asked to provide identification.

“Our priority is to ensure that students, faculty, and staff can continue to work and learn in a safe and respectful environment. The university is monitoring the encampment for any impacts on the health and safety of our campus community,” a Sunday press release signed by university vice-president Todd Mondor said.

One student who spoke to the Free Press said the institution moved an annual plant giveaway event outdoors in light of the recent safety actions.

“If it’s so unsafe outside that they’re having security measures, why are we being placed outside, too?” said the student who wouldn’t give her name.

The plant giveaway, organized annually by university biology students, was supposed to take place inside a campus atrium but will move to a yet-to-be confirmed location outdoors, said the student, who volunteers for the event.

The university said it respects the “right to peaceful protest and assembly within the bounds of law and UWinnipeg policies,” but permission to erect the camp was not sought.

“Setting up tents and other temporary structures on UWinnipeg premises without permission is in violation of established university policies, health and safety guidelines, and the law,” Mondor said in the release. “No advance communication of any kind was received.”

Mondor was not made available for an interview Tuesday. U of W communications manager Caleb Zimmerman instead referred the Free Press to information contained in two news releases related to the encampments posted to the school’s website.

Access to buildings restricted

The Free Press attempted to gain access to several U of W campus buildings Tuesday afternoon. A reporter was allowed entrance to Riddell Hall with a driver’s licence, while access to Sparling Hall and Centennial Hall was granted without a request for ID.

Access to the Axworthy Health & RecPlex, a public athletic centre on campus, as well as Wesley Hall, the university’s main building, was denied.

A security guard monitoring the Wesley Hall entrance said the buildings would remain shuttered to the public for the next day or two due to safety concerns.

Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Cst. Dani McKinnon said police don’t typically indicate how many times police attended a given location over a period of time or the nature of the calls, if any.

First-year student Shaye Kemball, who has yet to receive a student ID, was only allowed inside the building with a driver’s licence and her student number.

“It’s a little frustrating as a student. You’re here to educate yourself and grow your career, but now we can’t really go into places without them knowing who you are,” she said.

Kemball said while the measures have been frustrating, they’re ultimately good for student safety.

“If it does get to a point of violence, I know we’re protected in a way,” she said.

Protestors to remain on campus

Encampment protesters said Tuesday the camp would remain on school grounds until their demands to university administration were met.

Demands include financial transparency, divestment from “companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and illegal occupation,” and a public condemnation of Israel.

A protester, who only identified himself as Gonzo, said the move to bar the public from entering school grounds could get hard to enforce as the days go on.

“They can’t bar people from entering the university when they’re there to be at a conference,” he said from the encampment. “And it’s very hard for them to know who is here because of the camp, or just being a human being in a place.”

The U of W is hosting a three-day conference hosted by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies at Leatherdale Hall, according to a poster outside the building. The event is “free and open to all,” the poster states.

The protester said he’s seen no instances of violence or safety threats to students or staff since he arrived at the encampment Monday morning.

“What we’ve been doing here is keeping each other really safe, reaching out to community, providing lots of harm reduction supplies and food for our neighbors,” he said.

Tomaris Kaliyeva, president of the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, hasn’t heard of any incidents or safety concerns related to the encampment.

“It has been very peaceful, I think encampments all over the country have been peaceful,” she said. “I haven’t heard anything regarding safety and people’s concerns on that.”

The UWSA has no involvement in the camp, Kaliyeva said.

A group of students from the University of Manitoba who call themselves the Students for Justice in Palestine set up a similar camp at the institution’s Fort Garry campus on May 7, they originally said would last three days. Since then, protesters say they, too, will not dismantle the encampment until a similar list of demands for U of M leadership is met.

A spokesperson for the U of M said the university won’t speak on specific security measures implemented since last week, only that there is an “increased security presence on campus to ensure safety for everyone.”

Red River College Polytech communications manager Emily Doer said the school has never locked the doors to its downtown Winnipeg or Notre Dame campuses for any reason outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca