Some suggestions for Laurier

Re: Here’s where Laurier can stick its apology. Christie Blatchford, Nov. 22

Wilfrid Laurier University’s apology was necessary, but disingenuous. The administration probably hopes that an apology will quickly end the scandal. The situation at Laurier is far more serious, and complex, to be waived off with a simple apology.

The administration has announced that there will be a neutral, third-party investigation into how graduate student and teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd had been mistreated. That, too, is a typical strategy used by university administrations to deflect attention, to be able to say that the issue is “being studied.”

The fundamental problem at Laurier, as at other universities, is enforced political correctness and an academic culture of sheltering students from the messy real world that can be evil and where there are competing, alternative opinions and ways of seeing and dealing with the world. Laurier should do an about-face. Instead of students being sheltered from the messiness of the real world, students should be educated to be prepared to deal with the messiness of the real world.

What else should Laurier do? First, stop wasting taxpayer money with investigating committees. Instead, admit that the University was fundamentally wrong in harassing and bullying Lindsay Shepherd. The faculty who bullied Ms. Shepherd need to be severely reprimanded. Their actions were reprehensible! Tenure gives faculty protection from being fired for having unpopular opinions. But tenure does not give faculty the right to punishing students who have, or just want to discuss, unpopular opinions — the same type of opinions which faculty can hold with impunity because they have tenure!

The Laurier faculty and administration need re-education, to be able to better educate their students. As a start, Laurier should declare that it has decided to permit critical thinking and free speech. Given the campus culture, that will not be easy to do. They should follow the example of the University of Chicago which informs students that it does not support “trigger warnings” or “safe spaces,” and does not cancel speakers whose topics may be controversial. Let that be a lesson for Laurier, and other universities.

Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ont. Professor emeritus, University of Toronto