The University of Waterloo in Canada has filed a lawsuit against its students for continuing its pro-Palestine encampment urging the university to disclose and divest from Israel.
According to reports in the Canadian press, administrators were suing the encampment for $1.5m in damages including “trespass[ing], damage to property, intimidation and ejectment”.
The university alleges the student encampment has damaged the school’s reputation, driven up administrative and operational costs for the university and depreciated the university’s property values.
In statement released by organisers of the encampment, Occupy UWaterloo, the student group said it was “incredibly shameful” that the university adminstration had decided “to sue their own student body that’s protesting the university’s complicity in a genocide that’s almost nine months in and has claimed the lives of over 40,000”.
It also gets a lot of research money. As a UW grad, I can confirm that the students are the absolute lowest priority though. If you’re not in a research-focused post grad program, you’re seen as a chore.