Convocation season is upon us and many students set to graduate across Canada will be doing so as encampments and protests persist on their campuses.

At Trent University, the Faryon Bridge—which has since been dubbed the Alareer Bridge by student activists in honour of Palestinian academic and author Refaat Alareer who was killed during an Israeli airstrike in Northern Gaza on December 6th, 2023—has become a focal point of campus activism with students taking to it to write the names of the children who have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Trent University convocation ceremonies take place on the podium outside of Bata Library and part of the graduation ceremony includes a symbolic crossing of the Alareer Bridge by graduates making it a central focus of the university’s graduation ceremony. The first convocation ceremony of the year in Peterborough is scheduled for June 4th and will continue until June 11th

In an emailed statement to Arthur, Students for Palestine Trent wrote that during a May 31st meeting with university administrators there was a threat that the bridge would be cleared and the names cleaned off prior to convocation.

“The idea of Trent destroying this memorial for child victims of genocide is appalling to us,” the group wrote.

“Just like us writing the names did, Trent erasing them would too have symbolic meaning—one aligned with genocide. If you wash the bridge, any claim to Trent’s ‘neutrality’ will be completely unbelievable.”

But on Monday morning, the group noted that the administration has agreed to not clear the Alareer Bridge as it gets set to host convocation ceremonies this week.

In an email from Trent Communications to the student organizers—which Arthur has obtained a copy of—the university commits to leaving the bridge in its current state as a memorial to the lives lost in Gaza while convocation ceremonies occur. 

“Under the current circumstances and in the interests of free speech and freedom of expression, the University administration has come to a decision to allow the names chalked on the bridge to remain during convocation,” the letter from Trent University states.

The letter goes on to note that in the interest of safety, objects left on the bridge will be moved to another location on Trent’s east bank which will still be visible from the bridge.

Meanwhile, at the University of Toronto, convocation ceremonies are set to begin today, June 3rd, and will run until June 21st while students and faculty alike remain at the encampment at King’s College Circle, now known as the People’s Circle for Palestine.

On Monday, a group of Jewish community organizations and campus groups announced that they would be seeking intervenor status in the pending injunction proceedings concerning the encampment at the University of Toronto and the sense that they prove a safety concern for graduating Jewish students.

The groups, which include Allied Voices for Israel, B’nai Brith Canada, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, Hillel Ontario, Network of Engaged Canadian Academics, StandWithUs Canada, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, presented a joint statement on June 3rd which outlined their concerns about rising anti-semitism across Canada.

“Every U of T community member should feel safe and be free from harassment and intimidation on campus, and Jewish students, faculty, and staff are no exception,” the statement reads. “The encampment has continued to fuel hateful rhetoric, intolerance, and extremism, and shows no sign of abating in this regard.”

While outlining instances of harassment and discrimination within and inside the area the “hateful, anti-Jewish occupation of the campus,” the statement cites the groups’ worries about convocation ceremonies being disrupted.   

Last week two national labour unions, OPSEU and United Steelworkers announced that they too would be seeking intervenor status while standing behind the organizers of the encampment’s rights to continue in their efforts.

In an interview with Arthur, Sara Rasikh, a media spokesperson for the encampment at the University of Toronto, noted that “anti-semitism is something that is weaponized by the institution to delegitimize us” while the backing of national labour unions has helped to apply pressure to U of T as an institution. 

When asked about the university’s response, Rasikh called the legal measure that the university has taken to force the encampment to end an “intimidation tactic” which is “attacking our freedom of expression.”

“We have every right to protest here,” Rasikh said, adding that “the university has been watching idly by as Jewish students, faculty, and staff at this encampment who have been protesting with us have been continually harassed.” 

According to Raiskh, Shabbat services are held each Friday in the encampment. 

“We have agitators literally point to Jewish students and faculty [in the encampment] and they call them self-hating, they call them Nazis and it is a shame that U of T has failed to stand up for them,” she continued. “U of T has failed to stand up for their Palestinian students who have been dealing with immense loss and grief and who have been trying to navigate balancing their academic workload with losing their friends, family, siblings, [and] parents.”

On May 30th, a woman holding an Israeli flag outside the gates to the People’s Circle for Palestine in Toronto was videotaped ripping a banner down from the fence before pulling a knife on students who tried to stop her.

In the video, the woman is seen speaking to a special constable and a member of the Toronto Police Service though no charges or investigations are underway at the time of publication.

On Friday, the Toronto Police Service announced in response to a request to enforce a trespass order from the University of Toronto that they would not act unless authorized by a court ordered injunction. On the same day, the Service released their 2023 Annual Hate Crime report which outlined the findings that “the Jewish community, 2SLGBTQ+ community followed by the Black community and Muslim community, were the most frequently victimized groups.”