Threats, intimidation, vandalized premises: political science students from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) say they are the target of a campaign of harassment from extremist militants. Shaken, half a dozen students decided to leave UQAM to continue their studies in a more peaceful atmosphere.
According to what The duty has learned, tensions between a UQAM student association and activists who call themselves “woke” have degenerated in recent days. The premises of the Student Association of the Political Science Module (AEMSP) was vandalized during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, last week. An internal investigation is underway to find the perpetrators of the rampage. The police have also been notified.
Violence is trivialized in the institution, this is what I find most worrying in this story
UQAM’s Harassment Intervention and Prevention Office (BIPH) also intervened in the hope of putting an end to acts of intimidation against members of the AEMSP.
” I am stressed. I fear for my physical and personal integrity. I no longer want to set foot in UQAM because I no longer feel safe”, says Jérôme Dufour, who resigned from his position as general coordinator of the AEMSP.
Like half a dozen of his colleagues, he decided to leave UQAM after being the target of harassment in recent months. The ransacking of the AEMSP office last week was the last straw: door smashed in, computer and printer thrown on the floor, furniture overturned, graffiti on the walls. ” Fuck the CAQ”, ” fucking QS”, “long live the wokes”, “ fucking any”, “vandalism”, “ACAB” (All cops are bastards), wrote the uninvited visitors in particular.
“I don’t feel safe at UQAM these days. Violence is trivialized in the institution, that’s what I find most worrying in this story,” says Marie-Audrey Bernier, who also resigned from the AEMSP office. She decided to continue her studies at another university.
“We want it to move,” she adds. I would like my friends who are continuing in baccalaureate next year to no longer be afraid of walking down the halls and being yelled at. We may be on the left, for extremists, we are never left enough. I vote for QS, like many students at UQAM, but I am not an extremist. »
A vocal minority
The young woman says she has noticed that a minority of students whom she considers “extremists” make rain or shine at UQAM. Even before his involvement in the student movement, signs had put him in the ear.
In the summer of 2021, she and her political science colleagues were organizing happy hours at Laurier Park. Some members of the student community protested that alcohol “is not inclusive” at student parties, they say. Marie-Audrey Bernier was also accused of being part of “a group of heterosexual white men”. The circle of friends was nevertheless representative of Montreal’s diversity, underlines the student: “Jewish, communist, leftist, rightist, conservative, feminist, Colombian, Algerian, native Quebecer, separatist, federalist, homosexual, queer. In short, I pass. What was magnificent was the openness that united us. »
Once elected to the office of the AEMSP, in the fall of 2021, Marie-Audrey and her colleagues experienced other difficulties. The former members of the office refused to give the keys to the premises to the newly elected. People came to do the party and left alcohol and leftover food behind. The lock had to be changed.
An event to celebrate International Women’s Day has created discontent. Three students came to inveigh against Marie-Audrey Bernier, accusing her of having “excluded non-binary people” (which she defends herself from). A 5 à 7 where women would be entitled to a free drink also caused “unease”: “I am told that I encourage the culture of rape, that I am a fascist and that the student association is misogynistic. When they leave the room, I’m scared. The anxiety resumes. »
A student party on the highly ironic theme of the assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters has been divisive. Although the AEMSP office made it clear that the event was intended to be sarcastic, that the Association in no way approves of anti-democratic and violent movements, a handful of students denounced the office as a den of fascists.
The next day, the student room was vandalized for the first time. Subsequently, members of the AEMSP say that they are intimidated and insulted at all times in UQAM. In the corridors, at the student café, at the local association. Marie-Audrey Bernier, Jérôme Dufour and their colleagues feel abandoned by the university management.
Ongoing investigations
Jean-Christian Pleau, vice-rector for academic life at UQAM, assures us that the establishment takes the situation “very seriously”. “For me, it’s a situation of intimidation and harassment between students. It’s clearly the complete opposite of the climate we want to see on campus and the values we advocate,” he told the To have to.
He says that security in the area of the vandalized premises will be reinforced from Tuesday morning. In addition to the police investigation, UQAM’s Prevention and Security Service is conducting its analysis. Those responsible for vandalism risk being brought before the institution’s disciplinary committee. The sanction can go as far as expulsion from UQAM.
“In the not so distant past, it happened that political discourse served as a pretext or screen for forms of intimidation. This is not a new phenomenon, I believe. It was a way of excusing a lot of things, of saying it’s normal, it’s politics. I think that this excuse is no longer accepted today. We will deploy all our intervention mechanisms to try to resolve the situation. We don’t want things to stay there, ”says the vice-rector.
disturbing activities
The Faculty Student Association of Political Science and Law (AFESPED), singled out by students for certain acts of intimidation, denies having committed any inappropriate gesture. “AFESPED has always adopted a cordial and benevolent attitude towards the AEMSP, particularly within the bodies of collaboration between associations”, indicates a declaration sent to the To have to by the AFESPED office.
Members of the student community “complained about behaviours, remarks and activities on the part of the AEMSP office deemed inappropriate” in recent months. References to Donald Trump and Vladimir Poutine were poorly received, especially since “feminist, anti-racist mandates against the rise of the far right in Quebec and in the West were adopted in a general assembly by members of the ‘AEMSP themselves”, recalls AFESPED.