YorkU calls for unions to retract statements, address harms

York University has condemned a collective statement published by York Federation of Students, York University Graduate Student Association, and the Glendon College Student Union regarding the Israel-Hamas war. YorkU asserted that the collective statement has been “widely interpreted as a justification for attacking civilians and a call to violence” and warned the student unions to retract their statement, issue an apology, acknowledge the harm the statement caused on campus, clarify that they reject antisemitism, and remove all union executives by an October 25th deadline. Alternatively, the unions can reportedly trigger a process to prove that they did not breach any regulations when sharing the post. If this process is triggered and it is found that the unions did breach regulations, the university could reportedly withdraw its recognition and revoke the unions’ status.