Professor, 2 students stabbed in gender issues class at Canadian university; suspect in custody

A professor and two students were stabbed Wednesday during a class on gender issues at a Canadian university, and a suspect has been taken into custody, police said. Students who were in the class at the University of Waterloo said the assailant entered the classroom and started attacking people after speaking with the professor.

“The guy basically walked in and asked the teacher if he was the professor, he said ‘yeah’ then he pulled out a knife and after that, everybody just ran out,” Yusuf Kaymak, a student in the class, told CTV News.

“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.

Kaymak said about 40 students were in the class at the time. Another student, Jimmy Li, told CTV the attacker had “two very big knives.”

The wounds were not life threatening and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear, police said. The suspect was being questioned by investigators.

“There is no further threat to public safety either on campus or outside in the broader community at this time,” Waterloo Regional Police Service Superintendent Shaena Morris said at a news conference.

Nick Manning, associate vice president of communications for the university, identified the suspect as a member of “the university community” but declined to confirm the individual is a student.

Manning said the stabbing occurred in Philosophy 202, which, according to the university website, focuses on “gender issues.”

A website description of the course said it “will examine the construction of gender in the history of philosophy through contemporary discussions. What is gender? How do we ‘do’ gender? How can we ‘undo’ gender — and do we want to?”

“Our entire community is really concerned that this would happen here. It’s a big shock,” Manning told reporters.

Classes scheduled for Wednesday evening in Hagey Hall, where the attack took place, were canceled, the university said in a tweet. It was expected to remain closed until Thursday morning, but all other campus operations will proceed as usual, the university said.

“Our first thoughts, of course, go to the students who are in the class and have turned immediately to making sure that, in addition to supporting the police inquiry, we’ve been there to support the mental health of our students and of our staff,” Manning said.

In a statement issued Thursday, the school’s provost, James W.E. Rush, called the attack “shocking.”

“In the coming days many of you will have questions about why this happened and about the University’s response,” Rush wrote. “My commitment to you is that senior leaders will be as transparent as possible with the information we have.”