University of Waterloo professor, students stabbed in Canada class
A Canadian university professor and two students were stabbed by a knifeman who stormed into a gender studies class about transgender issues.
Students at the University of Waterloo say the unidentified attacker pulled out two large knives Wednesday afternoon after first confirming it was the Philosophy 202 class on “Gender Issues.”
“A guy came into our classroom, and asked our professor some weird question,” shocked student Jimmy Li told CTV News.
After confirming what the class was about, the intruder — who appeared to be in his 20s — locked the doors, trapping about 40 people in the room, Li also told the student paper.
“And then the guy attacked our professor with two very big knives” pulled from a “very big backpack,” Li told CTV.
Another student, Yusuf Kaymak, also told the broadcaster that “the guy basically walked in and asked the teacher if he was the professor.”
“Then he pulled out a knife and after that, everybody just ran out,” Kaymak said to CTV.
“I ran out, and after we went outside, there was a kid that was stabbed. He was bleeding (from) his arm. I don’t know what happened to the professor,” he said.
Police later said two females and one male were injured and hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
The university confirmed they were the professor and two students, without identifying them.
The attacker — who was “quickly” arrested — has only been identified by police as a “confirmed member of the university community.”
Officials would not clarify if he was a student.
“I can’t speak to motive at this time,” Supt. Shaena Morris told a press conference soon after the attack. No charges had been filed as of early Thursday, police said.
University spokesman Nick Manning confirmed that the stabbing occurred in Philosophy 202, which is listed as a “gender issues” class examining “issues relating to sex/gender.”
“Questions considered might include the following: What, if anything, is the difference between sex and gender? How much of a role do facts about biology play in our ideas about sex and gender? How many sexes are there?” the course listing on a student-led planning site states.
The most recent review on the course-planning site said it was really “a ‘Trans-Gender Issues’ course, focusing on contemporary trans philosophy.”
That student praised the then-professor for putting “a strong emphasis on validating trans/[nonbinary] experiences” and actively highlighting material that “might be triggering” to them.
University Provost James Rush acknowledged that “many people will speculate about the motivation for this attack” given the nature of the class being taught.
“We must be patient and have confidence in the judicial process,” he urged students in a message early Thursday.
However, a local LGBTQ+ support group, Spectrum, said Thursday that it was “not surprised by yesterday’s targeted attack of a gender studies class.”
“It is an escalation of the rise in hate speech targeting trans and non-binary people which 2SLGBTQIA+ people have been ringing warning bells about,” the group tweeted.
“It is past time for our leaders to act for queer safety.”
Officials did not identify the professor who was attacked.
The class is listed as being taught by Katy Fulfer, who uses she/her as well as they/them pronouns, but at least one of the witnesses, Kaymak, referred to the attacked educator as being a man.
However, Kaymark also recalled seeing an injured male student, and police said only one of the three hurt was male.
“Our entire community is really concerned that this would happen here. It’s a big shock,” said Manning, the university spokesman.
“We are blessed to be in an area of the world where these kinds of things happen very, very rarely.”
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