The University of Toronto Mississauga: A generally safe hub free of hate crimes toward the Muslim Community
Where some students feel safe, others feel there is a small cultural divide amongst students.
Some names have been changed in this article for privacy reasons and sensitivity of the topic.
On the eve of November 13th in Paris there were five locations that were hit by gunmen and suicide bombers from the Islamic State radical group (ISIS). All took place between 9 and 10pm and minutes apart from each other. According to the BBC aproximately 129 were found dead, hundreds wounded, and at least 100 in critical condition with President Francois Holland stating, it’s “an act of war.”
Since the deadly attacks, there has been a noticeable up rise in hate crimes toward the Muslim community in Ontario. According to the CBC there has been a Mosque set ablaze, a Hindu temple vandalized, a woman robbed then beaten, and at the University of Toronto’s St. George campus a student was allegedly spat on.
However, in between the rubble of hate speech and assaults on the Muslim community in Ontario and other parts of the world, lies The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus where an estimated of 3000 practicing Muslims attend daily.
Some students say unreported incidents have taken place, but overall they feel safe on campus. Maleeha Baig, President of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at UTM says, “At UTM, I’m not worried, but, maybe in Mississauga, I’ve been on extra guard a bit more than normal, but not at UTM.”
Sarah Thomas, a third year student at UTM studying Communications, Culture, Information Technology agrees, and she doesn’t feel there is any sense of a cultural divide on campus. “I feel the terrorist attacks do not affect the atmosphere on campus as most students possess a sense of understanding for other cultures as UTM is a very multicultural university.”
Assia Messaoudi, a third year student at UTM, double majoring in English and Professional Writing, explains that she assumes people are more wary of Muslims right now.
“There is always an increase in hate crimes towards Muslim people when incidents like the recent Paris attacks or Charlie Hebdo occur.” However, she explains that she has never personally witnessed any form of hate crimes toward the Muslim community on the UTM campus.
However, Baig does say, “in terms of under reporting I do think it happens a lot,” and that a lot of Muslim students refer to these incidents as “well maybe they’re just having a bad day, and it sounds bad, but it’s just kind of the way it has been.”
Biag describes one event, where a female student wearing a niqab was boarding the MiWay Mississauga bus at UTM. She was harassed by another male passenger. “He was singing 911 songs and he went to the bus driver and told him that she was going to blow up the bus, it was pretty bad.” It is unknown if the male passenger was a student at UTM or not.
Another incident occurred on one of the white boards just outside of one of the female prayer rooms in the CCIT building where the board was wiped off and the words, “Allah is dead, and f%^$ Allah” were then written in large letters.
One incident even involved a professor at UTM where Baig felt the conversation was very insensitive and left a student feeling hurt and uncomfortable.
“I remember one girl told me that one of her French professors said to her, oh how come you are not at Mecca doing pilgrimage? And before she could respond he said, oh of course you’re not you would probably be trampled.”
However, Robert Messacar, Manager of Campus Police Services at UTM says he has not witnessed any incidents or has evidence to support that there has been any rise of hate speech or assaults on campus, but agrees “most of time victims who are subjected to this don’t always want police involvement.”
Ruth Camparo, a third year student majoring in Communications and minoring in History of Religions, believes there is a cultural divide on campus, but she does not think it is linked to terrorist attacks.
“I think there is a divide because there are no events at school promoting networking and communication amongst all students” and believes “ if we had classes that talked more about acceptance of other cultures, religions and values, we may be more understanding of one another.”
In the classroom some students feel their sense of freedom of speech has been lost. They discuss how they refrain from talking about or asking questions about a religion because they fear not fully understanding a religion may result in offending other students.
“I feel people are more cautious because they don’t want to offend anyone or for anyone to have the wrong impression by their comments,” says Thomas. “These days, I feel like people have become more sensitive and get offended a lot easier than in the past,” adds Camparo.
Camparo feels students can’t get upset when someone asks questions or challenges comments made by someone in a faith other than their own.
“When I have people question why I wear a cross, or why I was baptized and they use the wrong terminology, I don’t hate them for it. I just explain how aspects of Christianity works…I just wish it was the same for the rest of society…if there is intentional hate speech however, that should not be tolerated as everyone deserves respect, but it goes both ways.”
Thomas agrees, “people are quick to throw the racist card around…I do think people have become more sensitive, but I also believe Muslim people have reason to be as their religion is often stigmatized by the media as destructive and dangerous.”
On campus there does seem to be some students who become discouraged to join the MSA or take part in their events after a terrorist attack takes place.
Baig explains one of the reasons is their parents worry their involvement with the MSA after a terrorist attack may lead the Canadian government to target them as potential terrorists. “They don’t want their name associated too much with that.”
Messaoudi expresses that there is always a constant worry after a terrorist attack takes place around the world, and says, it’s “mainly because I wear a hijab so people can easily identify what religion I follow.”
Biag also says she has spoken with female students at UTM who would like to start wearing the Hijab, but they are worried. “They are afraid of judgment, the name calling, and what it’s going to be like later on for them.”
UTM is an institution that teaches students to think outside of the box, to become critical thinkers, and to analyze information and situations. Universities across the globe should all be safe hubs where students can gather, debate, and speak freely, and respect one another and their religons.
With this said, down the road this could be lost if hate crimes continue to go unreported, and if sensitivities of students and their fears of unintentionally upsetting their classmates continues to grow.
If you or someone you know may be a victim of a hate crime you can report it to the UTM campus police located in the Davis Building, Room #3116. Officers are on duty 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. General enquires (905 828–5200 Emergency (905) 569–4333.
