A pro-life student group at the University of Alberta (U of A) is suing the university the over alleged violations to their freedom of expression on campus.
About 3,000 posters put up by UAlberta Pro-Life have been repeatedly torn down and its events and displays disrupted on several occasion by other students, the group claimed.
The pro-life group is being legally represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF). JCCF said, in a press statement, that U of A did not uphold its legal obligation to protect the free expression rights of the group.
In March, large crowds of protesters shouted loudly to prevent UAlberta Pro-Life from being heard, according to Amberlee Nicol, the group’s president. Protesters used posters and banners to surround the display and cover up the group’s messages so they could not be seen, she said.
“We went to [campus] security with evidence of people who’d done it asking them to intervene, and the people who were caught doing it either weren’t punished or were given a slap on the wrist,” Nicol said.
Nicol said campus security failed to prevent the mob of protesters from disrupting their display even though security was warned by the group in advance and shown Facebook posts of students’ plans to disrupt the event.
When the protesters arrived, campus security did not obtain the information of those who were breaking the Student Code of Conduct by interfering with the group’s display, Nicol said.
“They could have requested the student IDs of the people there so that they could follow up for discipline afterwards, but they chose not to do that,” she said.
“If they had just been there to voice their opinion, I would have been totally fine with that because they have the right to do that and it’s healthy, but they weren’t there to express their opinion—they were there to silence ours,” Nicol added.
“There’s a difference between expressing your own view versus silencing somebody else, and so the students’ beef is with the university for condoning that because campus security just stood by and watched,” said JCCF president John Carpay.
Michael Brown, media relations officer at U of A, said the school “believes that its response to the events in March 2015 were appropriate, balanced, and based on established policies and procedures.”
Brown said the school could not comment further as the matter is before the courts.
When UAlberta Pro-Life attempted to organize a follow-up event in an unused classroom, the university required them to pay a security fee of $225, Carpay said.
“If you’ve got a message . . . that nobody really disagrees with, you can express your opinions freely on campus, but if you want to express a controversial opinion that a lot of people disagree with then you have to pay $225, which for students is a lot of money,” Carpay said.
Carpay said winning the case would set a precedent for other universities if similar issues arise.
“The students are not suing for money, they’re not asking that the university be slapped with some sort of fine,” Carpay said. “They’re just asking the university to fulfill its legal obligation.”
