More than 100 students and community members gathered at MacEwan University’s clock tower on Oct. 26 to protest the university’s response to a demonstration in the John L. Haar Library four days earlier.
Organized by the Palestinian Student Alliance (PSA), the walkout began at noon with students leaving classes to demand accountability from the university and express solidarity with students involved in the Oct. 22 demonstration.
The walkout followed the use of force against students during the library demonstration, which was organized to call attention to MacEwans alleged complacency with the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
During the Oct. 22 incident, protesters gathered outside the security office in building 6 to demand the release of a detained student. Edmonton police, including officers equipped with riot gear, later arrived on campus. The student was released about an hour after her detention to cheers from the crowd.
According to PSA organizers, the detained student subsequently received a seven-day ban from campus and faced student misconduct charges.
Abraar Alsilwadi, a co-founder of the PSA and former MacEwan student, said the turnout was encouraging but emphasized the importance of continued participation.
During a speech at the walkout, Alsilwadi drew comparisons between the university’s treatment of protesters and historical student movements that are now taught in classrooms.
“We learn about students who participated in sit-ins, who refused to leave segregated spaces, who challenged the rules of institutions that denied them their rights,” she said.
She also questioned the university’s response to students challenging its decisions.
“What is the point of teaching us to question authority if you expect us to remain silent when that authority is yours?”
– Abraar, former MacEwan student and co-founder of the PSA.
“We are not asking you to stop teaching us about history. We are asking you to learn from it.”
For some attendees, the walkout was their first experience participating in a PSA demonstration.
Jocelyn, who learned about the walkout through social media, said that her professor ended class early to allow students to attend.
“I do believe in freedom of expression and protests and stuff like that, and I don’t agree with how students are being treated at all,” said Jocelyn. “This is our school, this is our community, and I don’t want to see my university be turned into a joke.”
Hasna, a PSA organizer, said the university’s response to the Oct. 22 demonstration has strengthened the movement.
“Honestly, no morale was crushed by what they did,” she said. “It was only built up higher and higher, and today it got even higher.”
The Students Association of MacEwan University (SAMU) also condemned the university’s response to the Oct. 22 demonstration, calling for additional de-escalation training, clearer protest guidelines, and restrictions on security’s use of physical force.
During the walkout, a PSA speaker announced plans to strike classes for the remainder of the week in solidarity with the student banned from campus.
