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July 4, 2003
Ready for violent protests
United States rules could result in more Muslim students here.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Jewish students at local post-secondary campuses are gearing up
for a year of unprecedented activism in defence of Israel. The mobilization
comes in conjunction with a concerted national commitment on the
part of UIA-Federations Canada to make sure student activists are
equipped to counter anti-Israel activities on campuses and rumors
that this coming academic year could see a major spike in the number
of foreign students coming to Canada from Muslim countries.
Eyal Lichtmann, director of Hillel at the University of British
Columbia (UBC), said members are ready to mobilize to counter what
has become a predictable chorus of condemnation against Israel on
North American campuses.
"This past year was unprecedented," said Lichtmann, referring
to the amount of organized pro-Israel activity on campus. But he
promises the next year will only add to the efforts begun this year.
"We won't sit idly by and let things just occur."
The activism may be heightened on both sides, however, as early
indications suggest possibly higher numbers of foreign students
from countries where even the official education system inculcates
anti-Israel attitudes in its students.
Tightened security in the United States may mean a sharp increase
in the number of foreign students this fall at Canadian universities,
according to rumors circulating in academic circles. Lichtmann and
others have heard rumors of such a spike, though officials in several
UBC departments, including the housing office, admissions, public
affairs and international student services, could not or would not
provide numbers of foreign students enrolling for this fall. However,
any validity to the rumors will likely be evident within the next
two months as international student service agencies begin accommodating
newcomers.
Some university administration officials expressed deep reservations
about trying to gauge the character of students from statistics.
For one thing, warned an official who asked not to be named, students
are never asked their religion at any point in the admissions process.
Further, coming from a predominantly Muslim country doesn't mean
that students are Muslim. Some, said the official, could be children
of North American or European officials working in a Muslim country.
But the Muslim chaplain at UBC, Dr. Ismael Laher, said it makes
sense that Canada would see a spike in foreign students from Muslim
nations, because the United States has made it very difficult for
anyone from a predominantly Muslim country to get so much as a visitor's
visa to see family in the United States, let alone a longer term
visa for extended stays.
"Entry, by itself, is becoming onerous," said Laher, adding
that Muslim students in the United States mostly feel safe and welcome,
countering claims that foreign students are seeking spaces at Canadian
universities because they don't feel comfortable in the United States.
"I don't think it's religion at all," said Laher, stressing
that the bureaucratic hoops of getting an American visa are at the
root of students' altered plans.
As part of the larger student body on campus, foreign visa holders
from Muslim countries do not represent a huge population.
Forty-nine Iranians were registered at UBC last year, along with
48 students from Saudi Arabia, 23 from Kuwait, 16 from Bangladesh,
15 from each of Pakistan and Nigeria. Turkey sent 18 foreign students,
with just one or a few students from other predominantly Muslim
states in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Tunisia, Qatar,
Oman and Bahrain. Israel's closest neighbors sent just a few students.
Three Jordanians and three Lebanese were registered at UBC last
year, with none registered from Egypt or Syria.
Southeast Asian Muslim states were most likely to provide foreign
students to UBC, with 58 Indonesians and 57 Singaporeans. Malaysia,
which has a sizable Muslim minority, sent 25 students last year.
By contrast, foreign students from Israel accounted for 17 places.
These could be Jewish, Muslim or members of other religious groups.
The numbers may be significant because of the existing tensions
on Canadian campuses over Israeli policies. In the past several
years, Canadian campuses have been the centre of sometimes controversial
and often impolite debates between supporters of Israel and advocates
for the Palestinian cause. At Concordia University in Montreal,
the tensions escalated into violence and at Simon Fraser University
in Burnaby, Jewish students expressed discomfort at the anti-Israel
– and sometimes anti-Jewish – atmosphere on campus.
Dr. Sally Rogow, a retired professor emerita at UBC, has studied
anti-Semitic bias in the educational systems of some Muslim countries.
She said that Canadians should be careful not to jump to conclusions
based on statistics, but added that some of the foreign students
entering Canada are products of deeply biased and anti-Semitic education
systems, in which Israel is absent from official maps and hate propaganda
includes the old hoax The Protocols of the Learned Elders of
Zion.
"You don't want to seem judgmental about them," Rogow
said of these foreign students, but Canada should be aware of the
nature of the education systems in some of the countries providing
students and the impact that could have on the situation here. Though
most students are coming with the best of intentions to better themselves
through education, Rogow warned that Canada should not be ignorant
to the possibility that some political agitators may be coming too.
"There's a concern if people are coming not only to get an
education, but if they are coming to propagandize," she said.
"There's a fear that people are coming not only to [learn at]
the university but that they are coming with another purpose."
Despite this, the academic year just completed represented something
of a turning point for Jewish university students in British Columbia.
Successful outreach programs at both major Vancouver-area campuses
attempted to explain the Israeli perspective to erstwhile uncommitted
students. Members of Hillel and the campus Israel Advocacy Committee
said they were encouraged by the relatively welcoming reception
with which they were greeted.
Any fears of increased anti-Israel activism on campuses next term
will be met with increased activism on the other side. Pro-Israel
activism on Canadian campuses got a big boost this year, when UIA-Federations
Canada dedicated more than $1 million to encourage Israel advocacy
and leadership initiatives on campus, a program that has already
funded a new position of Israel advocacy co-ordinator affiliated
with Hillel British Columbia, based at UBC, and similar positions
at other Canadian universities.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
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