Toronto (February 26, 2020) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has been working closely with a group of faculty members who want to see concrete action taken against antisemitism at the University of Toronto.

Professors Stuart Kamenetsky and Howard Tenenbaum are leading a group of faculty working in conjunction with FSWC in petitioning the U of T administration to adopt and implement the universal definition of antisemitism, as outlined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), in order to address discrimination against Jews on campus. The goal is to garner at least 400 faculty signatures on a letter of demands addressed to U of T President Meric Gertler and Governing Council Chair Claire Kennedy.

“You committed in September to combating antisemitism at the University of Toronto - the university that we love and to which we are committed deeply. Now is the time to demonstrate that those promises were not empty platitudes,” the letter states. “We put to you, and to the University of Toronto administration, that the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in full and as policy would be a necessary first concrete step forward.”

The full text of the letter can be viewed here.

This collaborative effort between FSWC and faculty emerged following an outcry from the Jewish community after a student proposal to introduce kosher food alternatives on campus was rejected by the U of T Graduate Students' Union on the basis that it did not want to support anything that was “pro-Israel.” 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center was part of the team that crafted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which has already been adopted by more than 30 countries, including Canada.