PLEASE PHONE OR WRITE:
Reisman-Sponsored Haifa/UW Exchange ProgramMany thanks to the Students for Palestinian Rights at the University of Waterloo for quickly addressing this problem. Now we need to step in and lend our support, especially if you are a UW alumni.
Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz of Chapters Indigo have made a $500,000. donation to the University of Waterloo to pay for a tuition-free student exchange program between Haifa University and the University of Waterloo. To give Waterloo students a true picture of what is happening in Palestine/Israel SFPR has asked that the exchange also include time at Birzeit University and Palestinian areas. Anne Pidduck the co-coordinator of the program said she is doubtful that tours of the OT will be offered since it's a High Risk area. (Plus the road to Birzeit has recently been blocked.)
Personally, I think UW should return the donation and not participate in this exchange. It will be used as a propaganda effort with far reaching consequences. Reisman and Schwartz are grooming UW students to be pro-Israel for when they graduate and take up influential positions in Canada. A similar case in point - the Ontario Chiefs of police and other senior officials who participated in a police trip to Israel are now in powerful positions such as most of the executive of the Ontario Chiefs of Police Association and head of the OPP etc.
Please see the full story of the Haifa/UW exchange program, information links and phone numbers in the email BELOW.
In addition, you may also wish to contact the
In order to win people over to our concerns, please state your case logically and politely. Overly emotional or rude calls can alienate the people we are trying to educate.
Thanks.
Nours Arab wrote:
To:
Nidah@yahoogroups.comCC: "Rami Alhamad" <
hmd.rami@gmail.com>,
"Susan Howard-Azzeh" <
susanha103@yahoo.ca>
From: "Nours Arab" <
noursa@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:01:45 -0500
Subject: [Nidah] Concern Over Reisman-Sponsored Haifa/UofW Exchange Program
In early January, Students for Palestinian Rights (SFPR), a student club at the University of Waterloo (UW) noticed posters all around the university about a University of Waterloo-University of Haifa exchange program, which boasted that the term spent at Haifa would be tuition-free. Gerry Schwartz, CEO of the Onex Corporation, and Heather Reisman, CEO of Indigo Books and Music were covering the bill with a $500,000 donation. You can read more about this donation directly from the UWaterloo buletin:
http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2006/oct/03tu.htmlAs many of you may be aware, there are existing efforts to promote boycott of Indigo/Chapters/Coles because of previous stances/actions taken by the CEO couple. You can get more details about the boycott effort from the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid's Chapters Boycott website at
http://www.caiaweb.org/indigoboycott. In short, Reisman and Schwartz are the founders of the Heseg Foundation, which provides scholarships to "lone" Israeli soldiers. You can see the Heseg Foundation here:
http://www.heseg.com/.
Having learned about the Schwartz-Reisman-funded exchange program at the University of Waterloo, SFPR decided to distribute flyers about Israel's discriminatory policy, specifically in the education sector. These flyers were distributed outside the exchange program's information session. This was effectively a very peaceful and professional protest, which was covered by the university paper:
http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2140During this protest, SFPR was offered the opportunity to speak to UW administration. Two SFPR members met with Anne Pidduck, the UW Co-ordinator of the exchange program. SFPR was hoping to ensure that minimally the program does not act as a propaganda tool that gives a one-sided picture of Israel. After negotiations with the UW administration, UW expressed willingness to allow SFPR to co-host future information sessions to ensure that interested students are given a fuller picture of Israel and take that into consideration before participating in the program. It must be noted that the UW administration did not consult any student body before accepting this money. However, they appeared to have been expecting a response but having little concern about it. They placed us in this reactionary position as opposed to being included in the decision process.
SFPR would love to have the support of UW Alumni in contacting the University of Waterloo .
The contact info for people you may want to call and express your concern to regarding the exchange program donation are:
Communications & Public Affairs
+1 519-888-4881 or 519-888-4567 x84881
School of Computer Science
+1 519-888-4567 x34662
MP3 (9.5Mb)
