On Campus

U of T students protest Munk school

Demonstrators say donation a a threat to academic freedom

Students and faculty protested a $35 million donation from Peter Munk to the University of T0ronto outside a Governing Council meeting on Thursday. The donation, made last year, is going towards creating the Munk School of Global Affairs.

Demonstrators objected to Munk’s mining company, Barrick Gold. “His mines in South America and Tanzania have been accused of human rights abuses and environmental violations — will it really fund research that would investigate these charges?” One student told the Toronto Star.

The Star also quoted president David Naylor who said recently,that complaints against the Munk school are unfounded because all donors are required to sign an agreement that they will not interfere with research and teaching policy. “The claims made in the case of the Munk School about real and potential threats to academic priority-setting and academic freedom are false,” Naylor said.

The approximately 100 protesters were joined by Noam Chomsky, who was on the campus giving a talk about the privatization of universities.

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