CIJA Seeks Legal Accountability on the University of Windsor’s Discriminatory Agreements with Anti-Israel Encampments

CIJA

|January 28, 2025

Windsor, ON – January 28, 2025 – Last week, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) filed a Divisional Court application for judicial review of the decision by the Ontario Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement to deny CIJA’s complaint about the discriminatory agreements entered into by the University of Windsor to end the extremist and anti-Israel encampment on its campus last school year. These concessions committed the university not to pursue institutional academic agreements with Israeli universities.

Following this capitulation, CIJA’s Legal Task Force filed a complaint with the Government of Ontario under the Ontario Discriminatory Business Practices Act based on the inclusion of an academic boycott of Israeli universities in the agreements. Indeed, the agreements the University of Windsor signed single out Israeli universities – and only Israeli universities – for boycott. This is overt discrimination based on nationality, place of origin, and geographical location.

“By entering into these agreements, the University of Windsor has created a hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty, which fuels antisemitism on campus,” said Richard Marceau, CIJA’s Vice President, External Affairs and General Counsel, in response to the decision. “Through this judicial review process, CIJA is asking the Government of Ontario to order the University of Windsor to comply with its anti-discrimination law and to nullify the University of Windsor’s academic boycott of Israeli universities.”

CIJA thanks Neil Abramson, litigation lawyer and partner at Torkin Manes LLP, for leading this challenge.

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