Government intervention is not free speech
Ford’s new policy for higher education may become more sword than shield
Free speech is in crisis on Ontario university campuses, some say, and the government is here to help — and to threaten financial penalties should dependent postsecondary institutions fall short. Merrilee Fullerton, minister of training, colleges and universities, says she and her colleagues have heard too many stories of student groups being denied status, intimidated and harassed not to act.
She mentions specifically uOttawa Students for Free Speech, which booked a room at the Ottawa Public Library in March for a talk by a self-styled “anti-feminist” professor, only to be shut down by mom’s-basement anarchists in masks who pulled the fire alarm. “Can you imagine if you’re a student thinking you’re wanting to get involved in campus life, and you come to university ... for the first time, and your attempt to set up a group for free speech is met with masked people?” says Fullerton.
It’s not a good look, clearly. And for better or worse, she’s on the case: By Jan. 1, all colleges and universities will have to submit a “free speech policy” affirming they are “places for open discussion and free inquiry” that will “not attempt to shield students from ideas or opinions that they disagree with or find offensive,” or allow community members to “obstruct or interfere with the freedom of others to express their views.” Colleges and universities will file annual free speech reports to the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, which will assess them for compliance and advise the minister on any deserving of sanction.
If you can’t quite hear the chimes of freedom ringing, this does fulfil an election promise on a fairly animating issue in today’s Canadian conservative movement. Many see metastasizing in the academy the same sort of double-standard they see elsewhere — the mainstream media especially — between tolerance of extreme-left views and intolerance of anything an inch right of centre. They aren’t wrong. But turning to any government for help with free speech where universities falter is just silly. It further politicizes what ought to be a bedrock concept of Western democracy, for starters. “In practice, Ford’s policy would effectively create a safe space for anti-abortion groups and alt-right speakers like Milo Yiannopoulos or neo-Nazi Richard Spencer,” the Broadbent Institute’s house organ PressProgress warned. Worse, the policy is meant to satisfy a whole lot of people whose free speech intentions simply aren’t pure. To be sure, there are many partisan Conservatives (and others) who genuinely believe in free speech, who understand criminal hate speech and how incredibly high that bar is, and who believe the most fundamental role of a university is to provide space for free discussion of literally all ideas: Nazis, Juchists, Scientologists, Marxists, Maoists, fascists, Know-Nothings, Branch Davidians, Zionists, anti-Zionists and Holocaust deniers — all are welcome in the maelstrom of debate out of which truth and enlightenment shall ideally emerge victorious.
Alas, there are also many partisan Conservatives (and others) who go around dressed like that, but who would in fact be perfectly happy to punish a university for tolerating anti-Israeli protests using spurious accusations of anti- Semitic hate speech, or to demand a radical left-wing speaker be disinvited, or otherwise misrepresent their preferences as laws or ironclad principles. It would be fascinating to see a poll of Progressive Conservative voters on whether a Holocaust denier should be allowed to speak on an Ontario university campus. What do we think — five per cent say yes? Ten, tops?
In the end, though, I suspect this policy is mostly harmless symbolism. The only thing that gives me real pause is Fullerton’s contention she’s received positive feedback from various university officials. Perhaps nothing bodes more ill for free speech on campuses than welcoming government interference in the matter. Indeed, proper universities might tell that government to get stuffed. But Canada’s know who pays the piper.