CANADA: Ban on solidarity activist defeated

Federico Fuentes

Toronto student Daniel Freeman-Maloy is finally able to return to his studies after York University dropped its bid to ban him for three years for taking part in political protests.

Freeman-Maloy is an active member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights and a founder of Students for a Critical Consciousness, which campaigns for free speech on campus.

Freeman-Maloy, who is Jewish, was singled out by the administration for his participation in "unauthorised demonstrations" in support of Palestinian rights and his use of, as university president Lorna Marsden put it, an "unauthorised sound amplification device" (a megaphone).

York University's backdown came a day after a July 21 Supreme Court ruling against the university's attempt to quash a judicial review of Freeman-Maloy's treatment.

Marsden notified Freeman-Maloy that he was banned in a letter dated April 21. Freeman-Maloy had not been formally warned that disciplinary action was being taken against him, and he was not given any immediate avenue to appeal the decision. The ban would have denied Freeman-Maloy the right to complete his fourth and final year of study, as well as take up his elected position as editor of the student newspaper Excalibur.

Freeman-Maloy's victory follows a vigorous free speech campaign. On May 17, students armed with "unauthorised sound amplification devices" set up a "megaphone choir" in Vari Hall, the student gathering area where Freeman-Maloy had participated in the "unauthorised demonstrations".

The Metropolitan Hotel Workers Committee sent a delegation of rank-and-file workers to the action. Freeman-Maloy had campaigned in solidarity with the hotel workers against the abusive practices of the Metropolitan Hotel's owner Henry Wu, who is a York University Foundation member.

On May 27, the university's Senate passed a motion recommending the reinstatement of Freeman-Maloy. A letter co-authored by more than 20 political science faculty members was sent to Marsden calling on her "to follow the path of justice and prudence by rescinding the expulsion". The executive of the York University Faculty Association also declared its support for Freeman-Maloy.

"Although the specific expulsion has been rescinded, president Marsden has made no indication that she plans on stopping her attempts to repeal students' rights to vigorously press for social change on campus", Freeman-Maloy told the July 22 Toronto Star.

Visit <http://www.en-camino.org/freespeechyorku/> for more information on Freeman-Maloy's case.

From Green Left Weekly, August 4, 2004.

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From GLW issue 592