Canadian Constitution Foundation

Policy on the fly sinks university pro-life club

John Carpay

Calgary Herald, February 12, 2009

The University of Calgary's censorship of controversial opinion on campus is just fine, according to Students' Union president Dalmy Baez. After the Students' Union (SU) decertified the Campus Pro-Life Club this past Tuesday, Baez explained to media that the university need only write a letter to a politically incorrect group, whereupon the letter instantly becomes "policy," which the group must blindly obey. To qualify as valid, a policy at the U of C need not be developed, written, published or posted, nor does "policy" need to apply equally to all students and to all student clubs.

What happened to free speech on campus?

John Carpay

National Post, February 9, 2009

Should a public university, funded by taxpayers, be able to censor controversial speech on campus? According to the University of Calgary, the answer to this question is a resounding "yes." In spite of its stated mission to "seek truth and disseminate knowledge," and in spite of advertising itself as "a place of education and scholarly inquiry," the University of Calgary has charged some of its own students with "trespassing" because they set up a pro-life display on their own campus this past November.