WLU faces another free-speech test on Thursday

In the fall of 2016, a student group called LifeLink got permission to put up a right-to-life display at Wilfrid Laurier University.

They set 10,000 small flags in the ground in an outdoor part of campus known as the Quad. Some flags were pink, some were blue. Each flag represented 10 abortions that take place in Canada each year.

At first, said student Christine Schuknecht, who is president of LifeLink, there was genuine interest from students who saw it. But later that day, employees from the university administration’s Diversity and Equity Office placed a sign nearby that said: “Warning: Anti-Choice Display Ahead.”

After that, students started becoming abusive. Some started to destroy the exhibit. Some yelled profanities or spit on the club’s banner and the flags.

Later, then-president of the student union, Tyler Van Herzele, wrote to all students. He said the “visceral nature of the display interfered with the ability of some members of the Laurier community to safely attend class, travel to work or remain on campus to study.”

He continued: “The adversarial tone of the event evoked a confrontation which eliminated the possibility of respectful dialogue and created an unsafe environment for all students.”

The following year, the group’s activities were closely monitored by the student union, even when they happened off campus. A petition attempted, unsuccessfully, to deprive LifeLink of studentunion funding.

It’s hard to imagine that a display of pink and blue flags would be so upsetting that you couldn’t attend class. But that’s your 21stcentury university campus.

Disagreement equals victimhood. Feelings trump reason. Folks are all for free speech, until they don’t agree with you.

Now, LifeLink has scheduled a sold-out debate on abortion entitled “Whose Body? Whose Choice?” Thursday on campus.

Schuknecht knows that controversial speaker Faith Goldy was recently stopped from appearing at Laurier. After a counter-protest, someone pulled the fire alarm, which meant the building was evacuated and the event ended.

“There’s nothing to make them think they can’t do it again,” said Schuknecht. Already, posters advertising the abortion debate

have been torn down.

This problem is wider than Laurier. Just a week ago, at the Ottawa Public Library, masked protesters tried to stop a University of Ottawa professor from giving a talk about universities’ role in defending free speech. She got into the building, but then someone pulled the fire alarm, ending her talk.

At Laurier, administration is being tight-lipped about plans for Thursday. Representative Kevin Crowley said security needs are being assessed with event organizers and “appropriate measures” will be put in place.

“Safety and security are always the most important considerations,” he said.

As they should be. But having failed once to provide a secure environment for the expression of ideas, Laurier has a special responsibility to make it work this time.

Where better to challenge difficult ideas than at a university?

If not there, then where?