Removing video of U of Manitoba valedictory speech calling for Gaza ceasefire 'not productive': expert

A speech to a graduating class of doctors that led to tension between the University of Manitoba's medical school and the person behind the university's largest-ever private donation has sparked debate about how much influence donors should have over the institutions.

In his valedictory address at the May 16 convocation for students from the U of M's Max Rady College of Medicine, Dr. Gem Newman told fellow graduates to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and called out medical associations for "deafening silence" on the humanitarian crisis there.

Ernest Rady — a U of M grad and businessman whose $30 million donation led to the medical school being named for his father — wrote a letter to the university denouncing the speech as "hateful" and disparaging of Jewish people, and demanding the university take down a video that included the speech.

Doug White, an American philanthropy adviser who has written about the non-profit sector, says both the valedictorian and the donor have the right to express their views.

"Now, the donor and others could be very upset, but to demand that the university take down the video, I feel like that's not productive," he told CBC on Wednesday.

"I don't think it should have been taken down, period."

College of medicine dean Dr. Peter Nickerson, who called Newman's remarks "divisive and inflammatory," confirmed to CBC Wednesday that the video that included the speech was taken down, saying Rady was "far from the first person" to ask for that.

The school's website includes a "donor bill of rights," which says U of M benefactors are entitled to know what their contributions are being used for and can "expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature."

The question becomes whether Rady's opinion should hold any influence over how the University of Manitoba operates, White said.

"It sounds like this is an opportunity for universities to re-examine their missions and … their communications with their donors."

He says as valedictorian, Newman was asked to make a speech and had the right to share his opinion.

"If [the university] doesn't otherwise vet a valedictorian's speech, it shouldn't be done now."

The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, which began after an Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel led by Hamas, killed roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage.

Israel launched an offensive in response that has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. The Israeli military operation has also triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing roughly 80 per cent of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation, according to UN officials.