Fresh blow to free speech

Laurier professor steps down from task force

The only free speech stalwart on Wilfrid Laurier University’s free expression task force has temporarily resigned.

Liberal arts associate professor David Haskell stepped aside Thursday after learning the university is demanding $5,473 for unspecified “security costs” for a Lindsay Shepherd-organized free-speech event.

She of course is the teaching assistant who was subjected to a disgraceful browbeating last fall by two of her professors and a bureaucrat for daring to show an excerpt of Jordan Peterson debating gender identity.

They labelled her “transphobic” because she didn’t first denounce Peterson’s views before showing the clip. In the wake of that experience, Shepherd formed The Laurier Society for Open Inquiry (LSOI), with the goal of bringing controversial speakers and events to campus.

With at least one event thwarted by the pulling of a fire alarm and another put on hold because of exorbitant security cost demands from another university, LSOI is now planning to bring Dr. Frances Widdowson, associate professor of political science at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, next week.

Widdowson is also the coauthor (with Albert Howard) of Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception Behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation, the 2008 book that argued Indigenous deprivation is maintained by a de facto industry of lawyers and consultants.

At Laurier, she was to discuss the question, “Does University Indigenization Threaten Open Inquiry?”

But Wednesday, the LSOI sponsoring faculty member, economics prof Will McNally, was told two things within three minutes — first that Laurier’s new booking policy is to charge “all additional costs” to the sponsoring club or faculty member and second, that the Widdowson event would require “a fee of $5,473” for security.

That led directly to Haskell resigning.

In a note to among others Paul Jessop, the academic vice-president, and task force chair Rob Gordon Thursday morning, Haskell said the demand is “in contravention of the requirements of Laurier’s draft Free Expression statement.”

Released just last week, that document offers at best a milquetoast commitment to what it calls “inclusive freedom” of expression, but coupled with what Haskell says is Gordon’s “very fair” approach, it was enough to keep him on the job — but no longer.

“I could not carry on,” Haskell told the National Post in a phone interview Thursday.

The task force had just had a meeting, where, Haskell said, “I’ve removed myself … It’s incomprehensible I could move forward knowing this is a masturbatory exercise.

“I’m removing myself until Wilfrid Laurier rescinds this policy. I’m willing to keep working on this (the task force business), but not now.”

What concerns Haskell and McNally — and others — is that because most campus protests and “disruptions” as they are sometimes called, come from left-leaning faculty and students, charging costs back to speakers and organizers means right-leaning organizations are essentially being taxed.

As Haskell put it, “The policy is clearly prejudicial to clubs, faculty and associations that want to bring right-leaning speakers on campus. Now there’s a fee, but it’s not a fee left-leaning groups will ever pay.”

There is a growing body of evidence which shows that where once, right and left-leaning groups protested equally (and that offcampus right-wing groups are sometimes violent and threatening), recently, most of the disinvitations (where pressure mounts to un-invite a speaker) and serious disruptions come from the left.

As the economics professor McNally told the Post, the policy “is massively biased.”

“Academic right-wingers don’t threaten violence, so this is like taxing people who want to hear these points of view.”

The draft statement on free expression, in its embrace of “inclusive freedom”, pledges a commitment to “the robust protection of free expression and the assurance that all voices — including those who could be marginalized from full participation — have an opportunity to meaningfully engage in free expression, enquiry and learning.”

Yet, Haskell said, “The task force draft document will do nothing, it will not protect a right-leaning social or political position. It just won’t. There’s no reason for me to sit on the task force if this policy is in place.”

For its part, Laurier spokesman Kevin Crowley said in an email Thursday that “events of last fall led the university to review a number of practices and policies”, among them the “space-booking policy”. He said the $5,473 charge “reflects the additional costs for security, safety and related items.”

He didn’t address the Post’s question that since it’s mostly left-leaning groups which protest, charging conservative groups is akin to a tax.

Jessop, who sent McNally the notes, didn’t reply to an email.

The free expression task force is dominated by members of the university’s faculty association, and of the 23 faculty and/or librarians who were nominated for five of the seven seats — of 13 — the faculty association has, only three professors clearly defined themselves as freespeech advocates. Haskell was the only one of the three who won.

He was also, astonishingly, the only professor on the task force who publicly supported Lindsay Shepherd.

She was in transit Thursday, but told McNally and Haskell she will set up a GoFundMe to pay the $5,473 tax, so that tickets for Widdowson’s appearance can be free or cheap.