McGill says it will no longer negotiate with pro-Palestinian encampment protesters

McGill University says it is going ahead with much of the latest offer it had made to the pro-Palestinian protesters camping on its downtown campus. But now, academic amnesty is off the table.

The student protesters rejected that offer last week and say they're staying put at the encampment that has been standing on the campus's lower field for nearly two months.

On Tuesday, the university said it was done negotiating. In a letter sent to news organizations, McGill president Deep Saini said the university is also planning disciplinary action.

"Despite our ongoing efforts to discuss in good faith, the representatives of the encampment have maintained that their demands are non-negotiable while accusing the university of unwillingness to engage in fair discussions," Saini said in the statement.

"As it has become clear that no fruitful outcome will result from these talks, we are ceasing discussions."

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, a student representative for the encampment said administration officials had ignored the students' request for a meeting sent June 14.

"They not only refused to respond, they lied about it and smeared students for it and it is shameful that our administration, which is investing millions of dollars in a genocide, are actively refusing to answer the demands of their students," said student Rama Al Malah, speaking for Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill, a group leading the encampment.

The rejected offer had proposed to explore divesting from weapons manufacturers, disclose more investments under $500,000 and fund students and scholars affected by the crisis in the Middle East.

The protesters have said they won't leave until the university ends its investments connected to Israel's military and cuts ties with Israeli institutions.

"We're staying until our demands are met," Al Malah said in an interview. "Companies like Lockheed Martin, Safran … the university can directly cease investing in them yet it refuses."

In an interview with CBC News after the students' news conference, Fabrice Labeau, McGill's vice-provost of student life and learning, said the June 14 email from the student protesters had rejected the offer made by the school as well as a proposal for mediation.

"They have stayed completely static and they have stuck to their initial demands," Labeau said of the student activists.

"They're talking about divestments from a lot of companies for very weird reasons. For example, they're saying we should divest from all the major banks in Canada because they're implicated in weapons manufacturing."

Labeau said the offer the university had made resembled offers from other universities that had led to the end of other encampments.