UWindsor protesters say there's a deal on the table to end pro-Palestinian encampment
An organizer with the pro-Palestinian protest on the University of Windsor campus says there's a deal on the table to end the nearly two-month-long encampment.
But the university says it's still reviewing it, and the protesters claim the school is dragging its feet.
Bilal Nasser is one of the encampment's organizers and a student in the faculty of education.
"At this point, I can say ... we are ready to sign a deal and that there is an agreement on the table that has been agreed upon both by the administration and their representatives, their legal team, as well as on our side, our negotiators and our our legal team," Nasser told CBC News.
He says students have been ready to sign for the "last week or so."
"They've been essentially stalling, and we could only conclude that they are not as serious as we thought they were about negotiating with their students in good faith."
Nasser says he is one of about four students negotiating with the university, with the help of a legal team. The encampment group is negotiating with senior members of the university's administration, including the vice-president of operations and counsel, he says.
Nasser did not elaborate on what specifically the deal includes.
In a statement, the University of Windsor says it is the encampment protesters that have tabled their final offer.
"The university is reviewing it in accordance with our normal processes," a spokesperson told CBC News.
The encampment on the University of Windsor campus started in mid-May, joining others on university and college campuses across Canada.
Protesters say they are asking the university to disclose and divest of investments that benefit Israel, boycott Israeli institutions involved in the war, create scholastic support programs for Palestinian academics and students and stop the admission of anyone who had been a member of the Israeli Defence Forces as of October 2023.
Organizers first met with university president Robert Gordon in early June and had previously met with the school in May.
On Wednesday the encampment at the University of Toronto dissolved after more than 60 days. The university had been granted an injunction but protesters left of their own accord.
The University of Windsor says it hasn't sought an injunction to end the encampment.
"We have to remember these are students, these are not lawyers ...These are just students who care about this issue ...The deal in question is their offer to us, which we have accepted, yet the ratification process is being delayed."
