Last month, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), a student group, approached the McMaster Student Union (MSU), the school’s undergraduate student council, for permission to print and hang a banner in the university’s student centre to promote Israeli Apartheid Week, a series of lectures and events that’s held on more than 20 campuses.

The proposed banner used the slogan “Israeli apartheid” and depicted a “soldier-like figure pushing a small child,” the MSU said in a Feb. 20 statement.

The MSU, which vets and produces all posters by groups affiliated with it, said it denied the group’s request to produce the banner, because the sign was “testing the boundaries of freedom of speech for one party, verses use of offensive and inflammatory language as interpreted by another.”

The council added that the poster violated its printing policies concerning violence, and it raised questions about the propriety of using “Israeli apartheid” as a slogan on campus.

The MSU sought the arbitration skills of McMaster’s Human Rights and Equity Services (HRES) office, which also deemed the poster to be inflammatory.

MSU president Ryan Moran said the groups advertising Israeli Apartheid Week were asked to “revisit the phrasing and language used on their poster to ensure that comfort and safety for all students of the university is kept a priority.”

He added that the poster would not be approved unless it promoted a constructive and positive dialogue.

McMaster spokesperson Andrea Farquhar confirmed that the request to hang a large banner in the student centre was denied by the MSU, the HRES and McMaster’s provost.

“Putting that banner there was not something that we felt was going to be helpful to the community, and it would be too inflammatory. That wasn’t allowed, but [the organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week] did continue with other activities they had planned,” Farquhar said.

The MSU noted that student groups, including McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice (MMPJ) and SPHR, were not prevented from holding their events, nor were they prohibited from using the slogan in their talks and discussions.

But United for Student Rights (U4SR), an ad-hoc committee of McMaster and Hamilton community members that was formed to respond to the controversy, claimed that “MSU-approved clubs have not been able to get approval for various initiatives related to Israeli apartheid.”

According to a U4SR press release advertising a public forum scheduled for last week to discuss “the recent shocking decision” to “unequivocally ban on campus the usage of the phrase ‘Israeli apartheid,’” the move is an attempt to “criminalize the views of students who oppose Zionist violations of the human and national rights of Palestinians.”

But McMaster provost Ilene Busch-Vishniac said that the school “has not and will not abridge freedom of speech. I believe one of our student groups has misinterpreted our refusal to hang a large banner in a very public place. We have not banned the use of the phrase ‘Israeli apartheid’ and have informed the relevant student group claiming that we have that they are not correct.”

Judy Schwartz, director of the McMaster Jewish Students Association (JSA), said she’s pleased the administration adhered to the university’s student code of conduct, which she said aims to protect students.

“We believe that inflammatory language only serves to promote a toxic and hurtful environment on campus. It does not promote civil discourse. We also believe that there are many ways to bring this type of discussion to campus that promotes balance and room for discussion on both sides of the issue – not one that is a completely biased and one-sided and leaves no room for debate,” Schwartz said.

“I can tell you that the Jewish students from the JSA that I have been able to speak to are very pleased and feel extremely comforted by the stand that the university has taken to protect all students from the pain of intimidation. Nothing is more important than the dignity and integrity of the student body, and the students should be proud that the university has taken a principled stand to defend its own code of conduct.”

Farquhar acknowledged the challenge that universities have when it comes to controversial issues.  

“Universities are always perceived to be in a difficult situation on these kind of issues because we firmly maintain that there’s freedom of speech and academic freedom… but we need to balance it with respect and tolerance,” she said.