Concordia Student Raises Question Over Student Union Handbook Featuring Palestinian Protests, No Canadian Flags

Concordia University is seen in Montreal, on Feb. 23, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

A student union representative at Montreal’s Concordia University is speaking out over some content in the 2025–2026 Student Union Handbook, including the front cover, which features images of pro-Palestinian protests.

Concordia Student Union (CSU) councillor Anastasia Zorchinsky says there are no Canadian flags in the book, but several images of Palestinian ones, and it does not list any Canadian holidays in the calendar section, but does list occasions like Nakba but not Christmas.

Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic and the day is one that “encapsulates the profound loss, suffering, and injustice endured by Palestinians as a result of mass displacement,” which occurred after Israel became a state, according to the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The Epoch Times attempted to reach the union but did not hear back by publication time.

“This is not really a handbook. This is more like a political piece. This is more of a political manifesto,” Zorchinsky told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

In the handbook, the student union says that blocking access to classes and picketing buildings are acts of resistance. It also notes that all students are obliged to follow strike mandates issued by the union, saying students who opt to go to class anyway can lessen the union’s collective power to get its demands met.

In other portions of the book that have been shared online, it called striking a “spiritual act” and a “political weapon.” The handbook advises students to “mask up” to conceal their identity from Concordia security cameras and security guards, saying it creates a culture of “anonymity and solidarity.”

The student union publication also encourages students to “turn the gaze back onto those in power” by filing access to information requests, filming security guards, and asking for security guards’ identification.

She said the handbook had nothing in it that she felt represented her as a student.

“It’s completely discriminatory against Jewish and Israeli students, and Zionist students,” she said during the interview. 

She said she brought forth a motion to have the handbook removed during a Sept. 17 student union meeting. 

“It was rejected, and it was actually also criticized for—that I don’t have evidence for what I’m talking about.” 

Zorchinsky is the founder of StartUp Nation, a group founded in 2023 that focuses on combating antisemitism and strengthening “connections between students and Israel.” On social media, the organization has asked other students who are concerned about the handbook to email the university administration.

Zorchinsky said she is worried that some students could be “pushed and pressured” by the publication.

“There are many students who just don’t even want to be a part of this, they just want to come and study, and I’m really worried that they’re just going to be pushed and pressured into this, and instead of coming out as a better person out of university with academic knowledge, you just know how to strike and be more hateful and more divided and more violent,” she said.

Concordia University spokesperson Vannina Maestracci told The Epoch Times in an email that the publication did not represent the university and the union was “fully independent of university administrations.”

“We believe that the CSU publication is very far from promoting the full participation of students in their activities, as one would expect from such a handbook,” Maestracci said.

Maestracci also said the university was dealing with the union, and the “violations of the Code” were being handled under university policies.

“We have highlighted with the CSU the issues, including the lack of inclusivity, in their handbook. Calls to violate the Code are not acceptable,” Maestracci said in the email.