Who is Lindsay Shepherd?
‘My idea of a good time is just sitting around a table and talking about big ideas,’ says now-famous Wilfrid Laurier University grad student
WATERLOO — For about a month a Wilfrid Laurier graduate student has managed to make headlines across the country and internationally.
She has attracted more than 30,000 Twitter followers, a mass of supporters and dissenters, an apology from the head of her university, and has been the catalyst for rallies and petitions created by faculty and students on campus.
Lindsay Shepherd, the 23-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., was virtually unknown until she released a recording of an early November meeting with two professors and a university official.
During the Nov. 8 meeting she was reprimanded for showing first-year students in her tutorial a television debate on genderneutral pronouns, which included University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson who objects to using what he calls “made-up” pronouns.
She was told there was one or more com-
plaints from participants in the tutorial and was accused of “causing harm to trans students,” and “creating a toxic climate” in her classroom.
The meeting has generated a national debate about free speech and caused the university to establish a task force to determine how the school can adhere to principles of freedom of speech and expression while respecting human rights legislation and the values of diversity and inclusion.
But who was Shepherd before all of this?
Prior to moving to Waterloo just a few months ago to pursue a graduate education in cultural analysis and social theory, Shepherd was completing her undergraduate degree in communication at Simon Fraser University and working full time as a manager at Bella Gelateria, a Vancouver gelato shop.
“Before all this, I really just did my homework,” said Shepherd, who has also been responsible for funding the majority of her living and school expenses.
“I worked a lot. I worked basically 30 hours a week through my whole undergrad, at least while I was at SFU.”
Before she committed to Simon Fraser for three years, she attempted to pursue a degree at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. She left shortly after to study at a university in Montreal and then decided she wanted to move back home.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted,” she said, adding that she really missed B.C. “I still do,” she said. It’s where she grew up and where her family and her boyfriend of nearly six years live.
Shepherd’s parents split when she was a toddler, although she maintains a relationship with both.
“I raised her pretty much as a single parent,” said Jennifer Shepherd, a public elementary school teacher.
“I had another brief relationship — I got into that when she was about 11 … I have two more kids from that.”
From a young age, Lindsay was an avid reader who, like her mother, loved to discuss and debate big ideas.
“My family tends to do that when we get together,” said Jennifer. “We always talk about politics and current social issues and cultural issues and sometimes it can get pretty heated.”
It’s a practice Lindsay still values and prioritizes to this day.
“My idea of a good time is just sitting around a table and talking about big ideas,” said Lindsay.
Lindsay now lives with a roommate in Waterloo. She takes public transit, is a recent convert to vegetarianism, enjoys running and yoga and cares about the environment.
She’s mindful of what she purchases and tries to buy second hand.
She loves languages and speaks Spanish, French and Farsi.
“She’s really principled, nobody can stop her if she believes in something,” said Mahdi Ghodsi, Lindsay’s boyfriend.
Ghodsi is a 27-year-old computer software engineer from Iran who lives in Vancouver.
The two met at a party while he was studying at the University of British Columbia.
Both Jennifer and Ghodsi advised Lindsay to record the meeting with Laurier faculty and staff.
Lindsay spoke with both of them after receiving an email from one of the professors asking her to attend the meeting.
“The tone of the email was too strong,” said Ghodsi.
He’s not thrilled with the outcome of the incident.
“To be honest, I’m not happy with anything about it,” he said. “I’m not happy that (the meeting) happened, I’m not happy that now because of that meeting Lindsay’s kind of off-track from her school work.
“I kind of blame the professor for making such a big deal (of all of this).”
Jennifer isn’t thrilled with the university’s handling of the situation either, but is pleased with the national discussion her daughter has sparked.
“I’m excited about the conversation, I’m excited about the support Lindsay’s getting, and the engagement of the public,” she said.
While Lindsay’s catapult into the spotlight has garnered supporters, including the legal support of Howard Levitt, a Toronto-based employment lawyer, she has also received criticism and personal attacks.
“I’m getting a lot of comments about how I’m so privileged and I’m such a princess,” she said.
She’s also had people criticize the way she clicks her tongue when she speaks in interviews, or uses the word ‘like’ too much.
And then there are those who call her alt-right, a white supremacist and a Nazi.
“It’s unfortunate that they think that way, unfortunate that they’re so quick to demonize me,” she said. “Because, that’s exactly what I’m saying we shouldn’t do.”
Lindsay has no regrets about going public with the recording or the multitude of media interviews she’s done, even if it means her school work has suffered.
“Imagine if I had just did the one story with the National Post and been like, ‘Nah, that’s OK, I got my story out, I don’t want to engage anymore?’ ” she said.
“I mean, it just would have gone nowhere.”