November 18, 2019
Professor Meric Gertler
President, University of Toronto
27 King’s College Circle
Toronto, ON
M5S 1A1
Dear Professor Gertler,
We are writing to you as concerned faculty at the University of Toronto regarding the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) refusal to support a drive to make kosher food accessible throughout the University of Toronto.
We are absolutely shocked and appalled that the UTGSU—a union charged with looking after the interests of all students on campus—would reject a campaign by Hillel at the UofT to support making kosher food accessible on campus. Moreover, that the ostensible basis for this rejection is that Hillel is “openly pro-Israel” and that as such, this initiative would be contrary to the “will of the membership.” To be perfectly frank, to suggest that the availability of kosher food on campus has anything whatsoever to do with the State of Israel is a typical antisemitic trope that harks back to the ancient charge of Jewish dual loyalty, while seeking to blame all Jews for Israel’s perceived crimes. This is antisemitism, plain and simple.
Since 2012, when the UTGSU endorsed the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and committed student funds to this discriminatory campaign through the formation of its BDS Committee—dedicated solely to the delegitimization of the world’s only Jewish State—the situation on campus for Jewish students has continuously worsened, culminating into this most recent episode. In fact, we are aware that separate from this affair, another Jewish graduate student has sought to bring forward a complaint against the BDS committee before the University Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Societies (CRCSS), yet has been stymied at every turn. The very bodies intended to protect UofT students have been weaponized against the Jewish student population, with nary a word or any action of consequence from the university’s administration.
If the University of Toronto is serious about combatting antisemitism on campus, as you yourself committed your office to doing in the pages of the Canadian Jewish News in September of this year, now is the time to make due on that promise. We must take serious, unrelenting, and uncompromising action to combat the world’s oldest hatred being demonstrated at the University of Toronto right now. There can be no delay and no equivocation in that regard.
Therefore, we the undersigned, in cooperation with B’nai Brith Canada, insist that the University of Toronto take the following principled steps on behalf of all Jewish students and staff to make sure that antisemitism on campus is torn out from its root:
1. Issue a declaration condemning—as antisemitic and wholly unacceptable—the actions of the UTGSU for suggesting that access to kosher food on campus for Jewish students can be tied to policies of the State of Israel;
2. Utilizing any and all administrative powers of the university to investigating the UTGSU to determine what policies and campaigns it utilizes that are informed by antisemitic or otherwise discriminatory worldviews, and taking appropriate measures to halt and prevent such practices, and sanction any individuals responsible;
3. Working with Hillel at UofT, B’nai Brith Canada and other Jewish groups to ensure that kosher food is in fact accessible on campus;
4. Expediting the CRCSS complaint brought against the UTGSU BDS Committee to ensure that it is heard and decided in a timely manner; and
5. Follow the lead of the Canadian government and countries around the world by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism as a policy guideline for the university’s administration to identify, prevent, and counter antisemitism on campus whenever and wherever it arises.
We expect that the university’s leadership will take meaningful action against antisemitism, racism, and discrimination in all of its forms on campus, and stand shoulder to shoulder with Jewish students on campus who are being discriminated against by the very bodies that are meant to look after their interests. We are ready to assist in any capacity possible and look forward to timely action regarding our concerns.
Sincerely,
H.C. Tenenbaum DDS, Dip. Perio., PhD, FRCD(C)
Dentist-in-Chief, Sinai Health System
Professor of Periodontology
Faculty of Dentistry
Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Carole Gruson
Periodontist
Chair, Advocacy Committee
Past President, Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity, Toronto Chapter
Clinical Instructor, Department of Graduate Periodontics
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
Dr. Michael B. Goldberg MSc, DDS, Dip.Perio
Associate Professor
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
Dr. Michael Glogauer
Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
124 Edward Street, room 463
Toronto, ON M5G 1G6
Head of Dental Oncology
University Health Network – Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Department of Dental Oncology and Maxillofacial Prosthetics
610 University Avenue – Room 2-933, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9
Dr. Gary Newton, MD, FRCPC
President and CEO
Sinai Health System
David Backstein
Head, Division of Orthopaedics, Sinai Health System
Associate Professor of Surgery
Granovsky Gluskin Chair, Complex Joint Reconstruction
University of Toronto
Dr. S. Hartley Kestenberg
Assistant Professor
University of Toronto,
Faculty of Dentistry
Department of Dental Anaesthesia
Professor Stuart B. Kamenetsky, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Director & Faculty Advisor
Department of Psychology
University of Toronto Mississauga
Dr. Sergio Grinstein
Cell Biology Program
Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto
Professor of Biochemistry
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Allan Covens MD, FRCSC
Chair, Gynecologic Oncology
Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Toronto
Dr. Jon Barrett, M.B.Bch., FRCOG, MD, FRCSC
Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Senior Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute
Program Research Director of the Women and Babies Program
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Arthur Zaltz BSc.,MD, FRCSC
Obstetrician and Gynecologist-in-Chief
Chief, DAN Women & Babies Program
Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Ida Ackerman MD, FRCPC
Associate Professor Emeritus
Clinical Educator, Radiation Oncologist
Department of Radiation Oncology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Jeff Zaltzman
Director Division of Nephrology
Professor of Medicine
Medical Director Kidney and Metabolism Program
Unity Health Toronto
St. Michael’s Hospital
University of Toronto
Dr. Amira Klip, Ph.D.
Professor of Paediatrics
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Eileen Rakovitch MD, RCPC
Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine
Staff Radiation Oncologist, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre
Campbell Chair in Breast Cancer Research
University of Toronto
Dr. Ellen Warner, MD, FRCPC, FACP, M.Sc.
Medical Oncologist
Affiliate Scientist
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Laurence Klotz MD, CM
Chairman, World Urologic Oncology Federation
Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Howard Cohen MD, FRCSC, DABOG
Assistant Professor, Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Ezra Hahn, MD, FRCPC
Radiation Oncologist – Clinician Investigator, Radiation Medicine Program
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
University of Toronto
Jeremy Freeman, MD, FRCSC, FACS
Professor of Anatomy
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Joel Raskin MD, FRCPC
Adjunct Staff, Dept of Psychiatry
University of Toronto
Chaim Bell, MD, Ph.D., FRCP(C)
Professor of Medicine and Health Policy Management & Evaluation
Sandra and Lionel Waldman Family Chair in Medicine
University of Toronto
Physician-in-Chief, Sinai Health System
JH Lipton PhD MD FRCPC
Professor of Medicine
University of Toronto
Ken Croitoru MDCM FRCP(C)
Professor of Medicine and Immunology
Division of Gastroenterology
University of Toronto
Mark S Silverberg, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Division of Gastroenterology,
Mount Sinai Hospital Inflammatory Bowel Disease Centre
Izchak Barzilay DDS, Cert. Prostho., MS, FRCD(C)
Associate in Dentistry
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
W.M. Steinberg, MD, FRCSC
Assistant Professor
Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Andrew M. Morris
Professor
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Daniela Rotin
Professor, Biochemistry Department
University of Toronto
Senior Scientist, Hospital for Sick Children
E. Joan O’Callaghan
Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
Russell Schachar
MD, FRCPC
Senior Scientist, Research Institute
The Hospital for Sick Children
TD Bank Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Staff Psychiatrist
The Hospital for Sick Children
University of Toronto
Paul Eisen
Sessional Instructor
Frank G. Sommers, MD, FRCPC, DLFAPA, DFCPA
Chair, Section of Disaster Psychiatry, Canadian Psychiatric Association
and Disaster Psychiatry Canada
Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Immediate Past President
Ontario District Branch
American Psychiatric Association
Recipient, OMA Presidential Award 2019
Recipient, OPA 2017 ‘Psychiatrist of the Year Award – Honourable Mention’
Recipient, U of Toronto Psychiatry, Alumni Volunteerism Award 2017
Honourary and Founding President
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – Canada (Nobel Peace Prize)
Child survivor of the Holocaust
Dr. Larry Stanleigh BSc MSc DDS
FAGD FADI FICD FACD FPFA
Dr. Sarah Colman, MD, FRCPC
Staff Psychiatrist, Geriatric Psychiatry Division, CAMH
Women’s Leadership Initiative coordinator, CAMH
Associate Program Director, Competency by Design, Postgraduate Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Assistant Professor
University of Toronto
Irving E Salit, BSc, MD, FRCPC
Clinician Investigator
Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)
Leora Freedman
Associate Professor, Teaching Stream
Coordinator, English Language Learning Program
Faculty of Arts & Science
University of Toronto
Amanda Wolfson
HartHouse
University of Toronto
Nathan R. Zilbert, MD, MEd, FRCS(C)
Assistant Professor of Surgery
University of Toronto
Wallace Rice. DDS
Faculty of Dentistry, Graduate,1960
University of Toronto
Wayne S. Wolfstadt, DDS
Faculty of Dentistry, Graduate, 1981
University of Toronto
U of T 1981
Melissa Goodman DDS FRCD(C)
Periodontist
Staff periodontist, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Instructor in Dentistry
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein
President & CEO
Toronto Innovation and Acceleration
Partners (TIAP)
Sharon Perlmutter, BA, DDS
Past President, Alpha Omega Dental Society Toronto
Dr. Ken Hershenfield,
Clinical Instructor
Department of Graduate Periodontics
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
Dr. Avi Wurman, D.D.S., FACD.
2014 International President
Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity
Steven Spitz – Smileboston Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry
International President 2019
Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity
Jeffrey Fialkov MD, MSc, FRCSC
Head, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and
Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering,
University of Toronto
Associate Scientist, Holland Musculoskeletal Research Program
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Jerry Teitel
Medical Director, St. Michael’s Hospital Hemophilia Treatment Centre
Professor
University of Toronto
Jack M. Colman MD, FRCPC
Professor of Medicine and of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Division of Cardiology
University of Toronto
Mount Sinai Hospital/SHS and Peter Munk Cardiac Centre/UHN, and
Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre for Adults
Dr. Stephen Kay
President, Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity, Toronto Alumni Chapter
Instructor in Dentistry
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
Eldad Zacksenhaus, PhD
Professor
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Eleanor N. Fish, PhD
Professor, Dept. of Immunology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Calvin D. Torneck, Professor Emeritus
Graduate Endodontic Program
Visiting Professor, Postdoctoral Endodontic Program, Nova Southeastern University
Faculty of Dentistry
University of Toronto
David N. Segal BSc (UofT’73), DDS (UofT’77), FRCD(C)
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Associate in Dentistry/Clinical Instructor,
Department of Oral Surgery,
Faculty of Dentistry,
University of Toronto
Associate Provisional Staff Active/ Clinical Instructor, Mt. Sinai Hospital
Aaron D. Schimmer, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Professor, Departments of Medicine, Medical Biophysics, IMS
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Dr. Laurel Linetsky-Fleisher, BSc, DDS
Treasurer, Toronto Alpha Omega Dental Society, Alumni Chapter
Dr. Tammy Herzog, BA, DDS
Secretary, Toronto Alpha Omega Dental Society, Alumni Chapter
Dr. Iris Kivity-Chandler, DDS, MSc. Cert. Ortho
President-Elect Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity Toronto, Alumni Chapter
CC: Marshall Schnapp
Chair, University Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Societies
27 King’s College Circle
Toronto, ON
M5S 1A1
Professor Sandy Welsh
Vice-Provost, Students, University of Toronto
27 King’s College Circle
Toronto, ON
M5S 1A1
