I ALWAYS TELL PEOPLE TO TAKE A STEP BACK AND (ASK): ‘WHAT IS THE CORE VALUE THAT WE STAND FOR?’

“People were shocked to read our story, but they weren't really surprised that that's how the administration has been handling it,” said Julia Dick, editor-inchief of the student weekly McGill Tribune and co-author, with Shrinkhala Dawadi, of the article on Leci's plight.

Members of the McGill administration “were very reticent to speak with us and seemed like they were using avoidance tactics,” Dawadi said.

In a written response to questions from Postmedia's Montreal Gazette, McGill said it could not discuss the matter because it was before the courts.

“One of the most important things, especially from a public opinion perspective, is this idea of showing care, compassion, a sense of social responsibility,” Galinsky said.

Universities are not only institutions of higher learning, but also act as surrogate parents to their students, he said. “People are so concerned on the legal liability front that they sometimes blind themselves to what we might call the moral or just action,” he said.

Dawadi said the story has touched a nerve on campus because of students' expectation for university to be a safe place. They don't expect those rules to cease to apply the minute they step off university property, she said.

The university has said it is studying whether it is possible to amend the code of conduct to also apply to incidents that occur off campus.

The “punch a Zionist” controversy is another example of an incident that called for McGill to affirm its values, Galinsky said.

“For example, we can say, ‘We stand for free speech,' but we also acknowledge that free speech has limits. Free speech that articulates violence, punching a Zionist in the face, that is no longer protected speech because it violated one of our core principles, which is non-violence,” he said.