When high-ranking administrators at McGill hold discriminatory beliefs, all marginalized groups on campus suffer. Specifically, it’s come to Queer McGill’s attention that Christopher Manfredi, McGill’s Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) holds transphobic beliefs, beliefs that are interconnected with his denunciation of advocacy against other forms of oppression.  

Manfredi has sent a series of emails to McGill students to suppress peaceful protest. He defends McGill calling the cops on its own students, and he defends the arrest of a protestor while invoking the AGSEM strikes and pro-Palestinian movements to instill fear in all student protestors. He commends McGill security who watched idly while Zionists tried to step on and kick participants lying down at the die-in.

Beyond the recent communications, Manfredi is openly transphobic. He has liked a twitter post about “the woke mob” attempting to “cancel” Dave Chapelle for transphobic jokes. His values do not align with McGill’s esprit rassembleur that he touts in his email on March 28 - “a place of meeting and exchange for all peoples of the world”.  A university with Manfredi as its Provost is not a safe university for queer students.

We call on McGill’s Board of Governors to immediately remove Manfredi from his position at this university.