Rector responses
Dear Editors,
Some people just don’t learn a lesson. Nick Day is one of them. As if his ance Day rant didn’t do enough to call into question his impartiality in serving the institution and students of Queen’s, Day has decided on a round two, this time attacking the ‘genocidal’ state of Israel in a letter to Michael Ignatieff.
Day’s use of his title as Queen’s rector in such an emotionally charged and slanted opinion piece is absolutely despicable. Rarely does anybody representing diverse interests and cultures, like those found in a university, take such a pointed stand on such a controversial issue; in this instance, it was undoubtedly erroneous to do so. Day should be harshly reprimanded for his abuse of title.
To respond to some of Day’s message: just because an Israeli Apartheid march doesn’t contain any outwardly anti-Jewish remarks, it does not mean it isn’t anti-Semitic.
People who focus a disproportionate amount of attention on the faults of the Jewish state (many as there may be) are anti-Semitic if they simultaneously fail to devote any of their rhetoric and/or action to oppressive regimes where dissent or difference are met with force, and often murder, as they are in Libya, Rwanda and Iran. And a United Nations body in which Iran is granted a seat at the table of the Commission on the Status of Women (56th session) is not a body that can make an objective, honest accusation of crime against Israel.
Someone, please get Nick Day out of there already!
Dan Braverman, ArtSci ’08
Dear Editors,
My son, a Queen’s student, sent me a copy of a letter that Rector Nick Day sent to The Honorouble Michael Ignatieff, leader of the opposition Liberal Party. As a Queen’s parent, I feel I must comment on Rector Day. I’m not condemning him for his opinions, since everyone is entitled to his own. I’m not even condemning him for publicizing these opinions. This is a free and democratic society and a university is supposed to be a bastion of free thought and opinion. There would be no sense in debating Mr. Day regarding his opinions—it would be a waste of breath, both his and mine, since we would never agree, in spite of the facts.
If Mr. Day were writing this letter as head of Israeli Apartheid Week, the Student Muslim Association or Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, I would understand. He did not, though. He wrote his letter as rector of Queen’s University. This gives his opinions tacit approval by the University and I find this abhorrent.
This is not the first time Mr. Day has made rants as Rector. I recall a similar vitriol during his Remembrance Day address. He crosses the line when he uses his official title to spew his personal opinions.
I would call upon the student body and the AMS to demand Mr. Day’s resignation so that his opinions can be voiced as a private student and not as a representative for the student body of your fine institution.
Dr. Bruce Rubin, Queen’s Parent
Dear Editors,
I was appalled at the rector’s letter condemning Michael Ignatieff’s statement on Israeli Apartheid Week, particularly the conclusion, with his official position as rector explicitly signed.
Israeli Apartheid Week is a demonstration that equates the South African regime—up until 1993—with the Israeli regime today. Within the pre-1967 borders, Israel proper is a democratic state in which Arabs vote and serve in the Knesset, use their freedom of speech to criticize the country’s policies, and have military protection during their worship at the Haram al-Sharif.
Israel allows vitriolic criticism of its own policies by human rights organizations like B’Tselem and newspapers like Haaretz which are much more critical than North American rights organizations and newspapers.
The existence of critical independent bodies within Israel has been praised even by the likes of Norman Finkelstein, but those behind Israeli Apartheid Week probably don’t care, because it does not conform to their preconceived notions of the Middle East.
My mentor Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Gaza, has explicitly stated that Israel is not an apartheid state and that boycotting, sanctioning and divesting from Israel would have little if any impact. But those behind IAW probably don’t care about Mr. Goldstone’s opinion unless it echoes what they already believe in.
With that said, as former Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert have argued, the status-quo within the Occupied Territories is not tenable. I would go further and call it a human tragedy, which should top the list of every statesman’s foreign policy.
However, something like Israeli Apartheid Week is not conducive to a peaceful settlement and actually silences discussion. It’s a roadblock to progress and destructive to frank, intelligent discussion on one of the most important political situations of our age.
Moreover, it’s not Mr. Day’s opinions on Palestine which trouble me but his constant use of his office as a megaphone to air those opinions.
How many more times will Mr. Day use the power vested in him by Queen’s students to overstep his mandate and bring negative attention to our school?
Mr. Day, you and I can have a discussion on Palestine or Kurdistan or Rwanda or Sudan or Bosnia or Chechnya or Kashmir. However, for you to post your political views and then sign your letter as the representative of Queen’s students is a personal insult to me and every other student at this school who disagrees with you.
I ask you to do the responsible thing now and resign from your position. You have betrayed the trust of Queen’s students by pursuing a path of self-glorification over honest representation.
Omer Aziz, ArtSci ’12
Dear Editors,
As a Queen’s alumnus and past-President of Queen’s Hillel—the Jewish Students Association—I’m deeply displeased that Nick Day has chosen to abuse his position as rector to make unfounded, libellous claims against the State of Israel. In doing so, he has put his personal politics above representing the students of Queen’s University.
The middle-east conflict is a topic with plenty of room for debate. However, IAW does not concern itself with debate, dialogue or discussion. It’s a toxic, vitriolic, one-sided affair whose only outcome is to make Jewish and non-Jewish students who Israel feel unwelcome on their campus. Day’s sentiments have only exasperated this feeling.
The role of the rector, as I understand it, is to be a unifying figure who speaks for the interests of Queen’s students. Day was not elected on a platform of Middle-East issues, and it’s entirely inappropriate for him to abuse his position in such a manner.
Daniel Stober, ArtSci ’08, MIR ’09
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