Already a hot topic at Wilfrid Laurier University this week, freedom of expression took centre stage on Friday.
A rally organized as a show of support for Lindsay Shepherd, the teaching assistant who faced a disciplinary hearing for showing students a video of a debate over the use of gender pronouns, attracted a crowd of dozens of people.
“Something like that should never happen at a university campus,” said Erik Danudjaja, one of the organizers of the rally.
Shepherd’s saga has attracted national media attention, sparking a debate over what limits, if any, should be placed on freedom of expression in a university campus setting in order to protect.
To Shepherd and the people in attendance at Friday’s rally, the answer to that question is ‘none.’
“Coddling and comforting students has gone too far,” Shepherd told the crowd.
“The leftist authoritarianism has gone too far, and also the reactionary labelling has gone too far.”
David Millard Haskell, an associate professor of liberal arts at Laurier, helped organize the demonstration.
He says he tries to teach his students all sides of every argument, but believes some of his colleagues aren’t doing the same.
“I am for diversity and inclusion – but the reality is, at a university, sometimes those values come in conflict with each other,” he said.
“My choice is not to stifle ideas.”
While reaction to the story has been largely sympathetic to Shepherd, she and her supporters have been accused of transphobia – something she and they deny.
“It is about free speech. It is not about being transphobic,” Danudjaja said of Friday’s rally.
The Rainbow Centre, an organization which supports Laurier’s LGBTQ community, has received hateful messages online for arguing that the school’s response to Shepherd has marginalized the voices of transgender students. Trans students say they’ve also faced hate in-person while on-campus.
Some of those students and their supporters took part in a small counter-protest Friday, arguing that the issue at hand is the safety of trans students, rather than freedom of expression.
“The impact that this has had on trans students needs to be central to the conversation moving forward,” said Milas Hewson.
Earlier this week, Shepherd’s supervisor and Laurier president Deborah MacLatchy issued apologies to Shepherd for what she faced at the disciplinary hearing.
While MacLatchy has not commented on whether she considers the clip Shepherd showed to be inappropriate for a university setting, she has said that the school must strike a “balance” between supporting freedom of expression and preventing students from threats.
A task force aimed at clarifying the school’s stance on freedom of expression is in the initial stages of being formed.
With reporting by Natalie van Rooy
