News 15

ree expression not so welcome at many universities

Maryna Dakhno
Team Member

he Justice Centre for Constitutional

Freedoms has recently released the
2014 Campus Freedom Index. Every year,
universities across Canada are graded based
on how they support free expression amongst
students, and whether or not they do what
their policies state using a five tier scale: A, B,
C, D, and F. Every campus receives four letter
grades, for university policies, university
practices, student union policies, and
student union practices. This year, Canada’s
universities and students’ unions only
received five A’s among 208 grades awarded
to 52 campus. Last year, among 180 letter
grades given to 45 campuses, our universities,
along with student unions, got six A’s. The
numbers definitely show that 2013 was a bad

year for university students to peacefully
practice free expression and exchange of
ideas in Canada.

Taxpayers pay the bill for university
resources when administration attempts
to shut down student speech or engage
in court action. According to the Index,
the 24 campuses earning at least one

‘F’ grade receive more than $6.5 billion
annually from our government so they
can live up to the goal of their policies and
practices of free expression. It shows that
these universities are failing to do so, and
taxpayers should hold them accountable.

UNBC and NUGSS were not amongst the
ten worst for upholding free expression.
According to the Campus Freedom Index,
the best universities in the country for

upholding the free exchange of ideas were:

Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University,
St. Thomas University, University of King’s
College, and the University of Lethbridge.

Impressively, Acadia Students’ Union
improved their ‘C’ in practices from last
year to an ‘A, for its defence of their

student newspaper, The Athaenium. Their
printing contractor refused to print an

issue on female sexuality depicting a sketch
of semi-nude woman on front cover. ASU
worked harmoniously with both parties

to reach a compromise, and offered to pay
for an opaque cover to block the ‘graphic’
image. University of Regina hit the biggest
landslide in its grades by moving down from
‘A’ for defending free speech in the face of
public pressure to an ‘F’. On April 14, 2014,
two peaceful protesters were arrested,
handcuffed, and removed from campus for
holding up signs expressing highly unpopular

views. One of the signs read “sodomy is a sin.”

Students across Canada and JCCF are hoping
to one day have every university and
students union earn only A’s for their policies
and practices. When censoring students’
creativity or shutting down displays that
may or may not express views which are
not favourable by others, universities are
not only risking getting lower grades on

the Campus Freedom Index, but are also
violating Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. Most of the violations happened
against demonstrations of unpopular

views concerning controversial subjects
such as abortion, sexuality, or religion.

This makes me question students’ ability
to consider how their not-so-popular
views will affect those around them.

RE-ELECT

ALBERT
KOEHLER

FOR PRINCE GEORGE CITY COUNCIL

INVENTOR Registered several patents, like the first multi bit screwdriver
INSTRUCTOR Taught at various universities as a Professor in Engineering
LEADER Instrumental in launching the UNBC Environmental Engineering program
FOUNDER Long-time president of the Northern Technology & Engineering Society

(NTES) www.ntes.ca

ENTREPRENEUR Started 3 companies from scratch and developed them

to successful corporations

LOOKING FORWARD
@www.AlbertKoehler.com