Sheryl Nestel is a prominent Canadian Jewish sociologist, researcher, and author. She is a member of the steering committee for Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) and has long served as the organization’s Research Coordinator.
Dr. Nestel earned her PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, where she taught for many years. Her extensive academic background initially focused on the sociology of race, gender, and the history of healthcare. In recent years, she has applied critical race theory to analyze the relationship between Jewish identity and Zionism, becoming a leading expert in North America on academic censorship and the instrumentalization of definitions of antisemitism.
She spearheaded the influential research report Unveiling the Chilling Effect, systematically documenting the academic suppression faced by those supporting Palestine in Canadian universities. She has frequently provided expert testimony before Canadian parliamentary committees and public hearings, warning against the threat to free speech posed by the instrumentalization of antisemitism definitions. She consistently provides core research support for IJV, utilizing national surveys to reveal the institutional hardships faced by pro-Palestine scholars. She actively organizes webinars and workshops for faculty and students, aimed at providing legal and academic support to counter political censorship on campuses. Through numerous academic papers and op-eds, she works to deconstruct the complex links between Zionist narratives and North American white supremacy from the perspective of critical race theory.
She had expressed support for pro-Palestinian activities on campus: “Shabbat Shalom to everyone at the U of T encampment. Big love to my comrades from the Jewish Faculty Network.”