Last year, there were multiple protest encampments and other actions by groups of students on Canadian university campuses regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Regardless of one's stance on the issue, the protests by both sides point to a larger systemic problem. Canadian universities are prone to civil unrest because their governance structures lack transparency and do not give enough power to students.
As my research has examined, one consequence of students being disempowered in university governance is that they resort to disruptive activism tactics that put themselves and others at risk of harm.
Instead of repressive policies that attempt to restrict student activism, the solution to mitigating protests should involve trusting students more and giving them a proportionately representative place in university decision-making.
