Toronto Metropolitan University appoints retired judge to review open letter by legal students on Israel-Hamas war

Toronto Metropolitan University will be conducting an external review after more than 70 students from its law school recently signed an open letter declaring their support for 'all forms of Palestinian resistance' and denying Israel’s existence while demanding that the school administration call for a ceasefire in the region.

Toronto Metropolitan University will be conducting an external review after more than 70 students from its law school recently signed an open letter declaring their support for “all forms of Palestinian resistance” and denying Israel’s existence while demanding that the school administration call for a ceasefire in the region.

The downtown Toronto university announced on Tuesday that it has engaged retired Chief Justice J. Michael MacDonald as an “independent expert” to oversee a “thorough, judicious” review of the letter “in a manner that respects the seriousness of the situation.”

Among other things, the review will entail looking at whether or not its Student Code of Non-Academic Conduct has been breached and, if so, what “appropriate” actions should be taken.

“Given the impact of the open letter on TMU community members, our partners, and our stakeholders, we feel a formal external review is the best way forward. It will give TMU community members an opportunity to be heard, while taking into account the significant complexities of the challenges before us,” Mohamed Lachemi, the university's president and vice-chancellor, said in a Nov. 7 news release.

“We are extremely grateful to Mr. MacDonald for offering his guidance and expertise, and we look forward to receiving his determinations.”

The open letter in question was authored by a group called the “Abolitionist Organizing Collective” and was first posted online on Oct. 20, but has since been removed.

Among other things, it demanded that TMU’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law (LASL) reverse its “neutral” position on the Israel-Hamas war, which its authors charged “implicitly denies colonialism and upholds racism and Islamophobia.”