Students continue concerns about Vic award sponsoring study at Israeli universities
As students across the University of Toronto continue calls to disclose, divest, and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions complicit in apartheid, there remain questions and concerns from members of the Victoria College community regarding the federated college’s Coburn Award. Students have raised challenges to the award based on the Israeli government’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians, and the long-term existence of their apartheid state.
The award, which was first issued in 1995, was created when Kathleen Coburn, a Victoria University alumni and professor, made a donation to the university in her will to establish a travel fellowship for studies in the Fine Arts and Humanities in Israel and Canada. The fellowships are valued up to $20,000 for each recipient, mainly for one student from the University of Toronto and one from either the University of Tel Aviv or the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to travel to the other country in pursuit of their studies. As of 2000, the award has also opened up fellowships for professors from the universities to pursue their research. Since its creation, the Coburn award has sponsored nine professor exchanges and 27 student fellowships. The fund for these fellowships is held by the Canada Council for the Arts, but operates through the Victoria College Office of the Registrar and Academic Advising.
Controversy regarding this award stems from a general call to boycott Israeli universities located on illegal settlements and stop upholding the state’s apartheid regime and genocide. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which is part of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee, specifically calls for an end to “study abroad schemes in Israel for international students.” They outline how the process of facilitating these types of exchanges benefit the ongoing propaganda and whitewashing of Israel’s occupation. They also criticise how these types of exchange programs are purposefully curated to project a positive and peaceful view of Israel amid its treatment of Palestinians and continued annexation of their land. UofT Assistant Professor Chandni Desai specifically called out the university’s relationship with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, telling City News that the institution “is deeply complicit in Israel’s violations of international human rights laws, specifically in Israel’s annexation of occupied east Jerusalem.” The Hebrew University of Jerusalem also has a close working relationship with the Israeli military, hosting various training programs.
Jack Osselton Denton, who received the award in 2019, is quoted on the Victoria University website saying that the Coburn award “alleviated many of the financial pressures from a full-year exchange at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where I studied Arabic. Funds from the award covered the essentials but also gave me the financial freedom to not worry about weekend travel around the Palestinian territories or moving out of student accommodation to an apartment in the Old City.” Another quote on the site from 2018 recipient Alexandra Wood Johnston states that the award “made my summer abroad in Jerusalem financially possible and allowed me to enjoy my time abroad even more. My experience in Jerusalem exposed me to the intricacies and cultural diversity of the city and country, of which I had little prior knowledge.”
Following student questions about the award and Victoria College’s ongoing relationship with the Israeli universities at the most recent caucus on February 9th, Registrar Yvette Ali stated that she believes the purpose of the award is to “broaden student perspectives.” Ali also claimed that the award has not been given since 2019 following the Coronavirus pandemic, and that there are currently no plans to give out the award in the near future due to the Canadian government’s travel advisories for the region. However, the Canada Council for the Arts has listed that since the start of the pandemic, the award has sponsored three people (one student and two faculty) along with three courses. UofT President Meric Gertler has also faced criticism over the university’s ties to and promotion of Israeli universities, after calling academic boycotts “antithetical to the university’s firm conviction that the best way to protect human rights is by staunchly defending and promoting academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the unfettered circulation of ideas within the global scholarly community.” In contrast, UofT professor Rebecca Comay, who is a member of both the Jewish Faculty Network and Faculty for Palestine, criticised his use of academic freedom, calling it disingenuous and misleading. Comay said, “How can the collaboration with such an institution be defended in the name of academic freedom?”
The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner cited UN experts this past April who stated, “With more than 80% of schools in Gaza damaged or destroyed, it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as ‘scholasticide.’” The Office also confirmed that all universities in Gaza have been demolished by the Israeli military. Moreover, UN experts made a public call for the international community to “send a clear message that those who target schools and universities will be held responsible.”
Student calls for universities across Canada to cut ties with Israeli institutions continue. There has not been a public statement from Victoria University regarding the Coburn Award since the Winter Caucus, and questions regarding its future are expected at the upcoming Fall Caucus meeting with administrators.
