The Independent Student Inquiry (ISI) presented its final report and recommendations concerning the events of Nov. 10 at last Thursday’s SSMU Council. The ISI was created following criticism of Principal Heather Munroe-Blum’s announcement of Dean of Law Daniel Jutras’ internal investigation of the events.
Originally supposed to present their findings in January, two months after the release of the Jutras report, the ISI was delayed because McGill did not respond to their Access to Information requests.
Harmon Moon, U2 history and one of the five co-authors of the final report, told Council that the report did not represent the views or ideas of the administration, because members of the ISI were repeatedly denied communication with administrators.
Chris Bangs, another of the co-authors and a U2 economics and political science student, said he will be lodging a student grievance against the Secretary General for violating several articles in the Charter of Students’ Rights throughout this process.
“It really is tragic that nobody in the administration wanted to talk to us, because it does create this very, very unfortunate idea that this is the report for the students and the Jutras report is the report for the administration,” Moon said.
The Jutras report was made public on Dec. 15. The ISI final report notes that Jutras was given an “uncomfortable amount of power” as the leader of the internal investigation, and recommends that the university establish a protocol that would mandate either an external third party or an impartial internal body to lead future investigations.
Based on their research, the ISI compiled 10 recommendations, which include some that respond to Jutras’, but also others they produced independently. These include a recommendation that the university should clarify what is public and private space on campus, defining which areas are acceptable for political activity, and expanding available student space.
“The status of public spaces should be made explicit, with the goal of integrating students and community members into spaces where they currently feel unwelcome,” the report states.
The report also states that building lockdowns, like those of Nov. 10, should require explicit justification and should not occur without “appropriate communication” with the university community.
“Lockdown protocol should also address safety concerns such as medical emergencies,” the report states. “The lockdown on November 10 significantly contributed to affected students’ inability to receive much-needed medical assistance.”
“Students also should never be trapped in buildings and should always be able to leave freely,” the report adds.
In addition, the ISI recommends that McGill file an official complaint with the police ethics commissioner of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), in response to the “overly violent” police reaction on Nov. 10.
“Individual responses to police brutality can be difficult to carry out,” the report states. “Only the university has the authority and capability to speak for and defend the rights of all of its members hurt [on Nov. 10].”
Allison Cooper, U3 anthropology and co-author of the ISI final report, explained that members of the ISI will now work with SSMU councillors to translate these recommendations into SSMU mandates and protocols. She said it is important for these recommendations to progress beyond the ISI, since Dean Jutras’ recommendations may not allow students to feel that they have a voice in the investigation.
“We need to make sure that we have all of these people [faculty, students, and staff] together and talking [but] it’s hard for students to feel like the administration-organized events will give them a voice, because … the topics and questions are all set for you by the people who organize it,” Cooper said. “It’s sort of a sad way that it is perceived, but still, to actually have a dialogue I don’t know if those [administration-run events] are actually the proper fora for that.”
In addition to the student inquiry, the McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT) has created a committee that will respond to the events of Nov. 10 by making recommendations to the McGill Administration and Senate. The committee was scheduled to submit their report to MAUT Council by March 1.
The ISI final report is available at independentstudentinquiry.blogspot.com
—Additional reporting by Carolina Millán Ronchetti
