Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Windsor, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Maureen Revait) Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Windsor, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
Windsor

Agreement reached to end encampment

The University of Windsor announced it has reached an agreement to end the student encampment.

According to a news release from the University of Windsor, students from the encampment have agreed to remove all tents and related components within 48 hours.

The Palestinian Solidarity Group set up the Liberation Zone on campus on May 9 and erected tents two days later.

The group was demanding the University disclose financial statements, divest from any entities that benefit Israel, an academic boycott from Israeli institutions, and more support for students on campus.

University officials have been meeting with members of the group and the University of Windsor Student Alliance to address concerns and have reached agreements with both groups.

The university has agreed to disclose direct and indirect public fund investments and review its current investments.

"The University will continue to evolve in its investment review practices and strategies, aligned with its responsible investment policy and responsibilities as a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, while ensuring financial sustainability to support mission-related goals," read the University's statement.

The university has also agreed to enhance its anti-racism initiatives, offer more counselling and expand the Scholars at Risk program.

"This deal is beyond monumental but it is all bearing in mind of our people in Palestine and we did not accomplish this alone. Our comrades in the global student intifada have generated a momentum that has reinvigorated and empowered us to never give up," said the group's representative at an evening news conference.

The group has until 2 p.m. Friday to dismantle the campus encampment.

"We are angered though today that this achievement has come at the cost of the charred and mutilated bodies of Palestinians," said the representative. "We're heartbroken that it took nine months of a genocide of such a massive scale for institutions, including universities, to just begin dipping their toes in the process of divestment, disclosure boycotts support and defending students who are fighting against an apartheid colonial regime."

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