University of Waterloo issues formal notice to protesters to end encampment

The University of Waterloo has issued a formal notice to people who have set up an encampment on campus to end the protest and remove all structures.

In a letter posted to the school's website on Monday, and taped to light posts near the encampment, the school says the encampment and associated events "violate several items listed on our list of prohibited activities ... and also violate various University of Waterloo policies."

The university says the protesters have contravened six policies, including:

• Policy 2 in regards to signage. The school says signs, flags and banners at the encampment have been installed without permission.

• Policy 15 which requires permission to use spaces on the university campus outside of regularly scheduled hours.

• Policy 22 which says no modifications or attachments to a building or structure can be put up by anyone except university plant operations staff. The university says their tents and a plywood barricade were put up without authorization.

• Policy 33 which "unduly interferes with the study, work or working environment of other members of the university or any aspect of another's university activity."

• Policy 34 which is a health, safety and environment policy that the school says the group has gone against because they have refused to allow inspections of the encampment's structures.

• Policy 74 that covers misuse of university resources, including the unauthorized use of equipment, material or a facility or service.

"We have been clear, including in writing, that the encampment cannot remain indefinitely and that members of the encampment have already breached several of our prohibited activities and policies. Because you continue to violate our policies, we require you to end the encampment immediately and to dismantle all structures," the statement says.

The university has put up its formal notice to end the encampment on light posts and umbrella stands near the area around where the encampment has been set up. (Aastha Shetty/CBC)

'We're not taking their threats very seriously'

Nicholas Joseph, the media liaison for the group Occupy UW, told CBC News Thursday afternoon that there are no plans to dismantle the encampment.

"The university admin has posted and taped heavily this list of supposed violations that we're committing. They also handed a copy to us. It seems very passive aggressive and pretty threatening and we're not taking their threats very seriously," Joseph said.

Joseph alleges the university has not engaged in an open dialogue with the group. Instead, he said the university administration has asked to do safety tours of the encampment and Joseph says the protesters have denied that request.

"Because we've put up flags and stuff like that, they've taped these things, bolding and underlining all of the supposed infractions we're committing," he said.

"It just seems threatening. It just seems they're telling us to dismantle the encampment immediately. We're not going to do that."

He said from the encampment's perspective, the next steps "are quite clear."

"They need to concede to our demands," he said.

The protesters say they decided to set up the encampment because of the growing number of deaths during the on-going Israel-Hamas war.

The group that organized the encampment has previously held rallies on campus and attended a university senate meeting earlier this month to demand the university should boycott and divest from all institutions supporting Israel in the midst of the ongoing war.

A similar encampment went up at the University of Guelph campus on Tuesday of this week. Other encampments have taken place at university campuses across the country, including at McGill University in Montreal, the University of Toronto, McMaster University in Hamilton and University of Windsor.