Toronto

All Ryerson social work grad Rebecca Katzman wanted was to do her third-year placement at one of two respected Toronto Jewish organizations with a track record of addressing social justice issues.

The 22-year-old, who will graduate with her Bachelor of Social Work degree on June 8, said her desire to be placed at either the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre (JCC) or the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was “sparked” by a combination of actions at Ryerson — among them the anti-Semitism she experienced on campus.

However, she wasn’t prepared in the slightest for what happened with her third-year placement coordinator in the faculty of social work, Heather Bain.

After making it clear to Bain about her preferred placement, Katzman said the field coordinator advised her in an e-mail in late August of 2015 she did not follow up with the JCC or UJA because their values appeared to be “in opposition” to the values of the School of Social Work.

Bain listed those values as the advancement of anti-oppression; anti-racism; anti-colonialism and decolonization; feminism; anti-capitalism; Queer and trans liberation struggles; issues in disability and madness (cct); among others (many of which are not listed on the school’s own website.)

“My understanding is both agencies have a strong anti-Palestinian lean,” Bain continued, suggesting that if Katzman agreed to bring a “critical awareness” (of Palestinian solidarity movements) to either agency she might reconsider.

While the two agencies where Katzman wanted to be placed are known to be pro-Israel, she said their websites do not indicate any anti-Palestinian policies in the slightest.

Katzman, who waited until she was ready to graduate to tell her story for fear of retaliation from the faculty, said she was devastated by Bain’s e-mail.

“I felt targeted as a Jewish student,” she said, noting she’s coming forward because she wants the university to investigate as well as a public apology.

When she challenged Bain about her contentions, the field placement officer responded on Aug. 25, 2015 that she consulted with Jewish colleagues who are part of “Jews Against Israeli Apartheid movements” before making her decision not to pursue those placements.

When Katzman — with the support of a pro-Israeli campus organization called Stand With Us (she was awarded a fellowship from them) — indicated in a Sept. 4 follow-up e-mail she’d booked a meeting with then-Ryerson president Sheldon Levy to address the matter, both Bain’s boss. Kristie Wright and Bain herself wrote back indicating “misinformed information” had been provided to her.

They also indicated that the school of social work does not require their partner agencies to “align with Palestinian solidarity movements” to be considered for placement.

Katzman confirmed in a recent interview that at no time did they offer to place her at either agency and she ended up completing her third-year placement at an organization serving kids with autism.

“It really discouraged me from wanting to pursue a Jewish sort of placement (in my fourth year) because I didn’t want to go through that (same) emotional stress,” she said. “My last two years were very rough.”

I tried to reach dean Lisa Barnoff (an expert in anti-oppressive practices, anti-racism, feminist and LGBT issues); Wright and Bain herself (who came to Ryerson from the 519 Community Centre). I also contacted Tanya DiMello, the university’s director of Human Rights and a former NDP candidate, who attended a Sept. 16, 2015 meeting in Levy’s place. None of these women responded to my phone calls and e-mails over two days.

Levy did respond, saying he was on his “way out at the time” but that he took pride in never saying “no” to a request to meet with students.

Michael Forbes, Ryerson’s group director of communications, insisted in an e-mail Friday that the School of Social Work took “quick, thorough and responsive action on this matter.

“Once the student’s concerns about the Aug. 25, 2015 e-mail was brought to our attention, the field education coordinator immediately contacted the student, apologized, corrected the information and requested a meeting with the student to address any of the student’s questions and concerns,” he wrote, refusing to say whether Bain was disciplined.

Forbes added that Ryerson has a “strong history of placing students at a diverse range of institutions, corporations and organizations, including the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre” and they are “proud” of this history.

According to the e-mail trail provided to the Toronto Sun, that alleged “immediate” apology came on Sept. 9, two full weeks after her original e-mail and only after Katzman lodged a complaint with Levy’s office.

Meryle Lee Kates, executive director of StandWithUs Canada, believes this kind of thing — what she calls an “abuse of podium” — is happening in different variations in many other university courses.

“There is this zeitgeist about intersectionality and white privilege,” Kates said.

Kates said even though Katzman complained through all of the correct administrative channels, the issue was essentially swept under the rug.

“This is a hijacked version of social justice that is anti-Semitic,” she said. “If you can’t go to work for a Jewish organization doing good work, something is wrong with that.”

SLevy@postmedia.com