Carleton ranked “poor” in all but one section of the 2011 Campus Freedom Index from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), citing the university’s censorship of pro-life group Carleton Lifeline as the key reason.
Focusing on campuses across the country, the JCCF strives to ensure the fundamental freedoms awarded to Canadians by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are upheld across the nation. The Campus Freedom Index measures free speech at universities across the country, according to the JCCF website.
The JCCF’s mission statement says they “[strive] to build a Canada where each and every Canadian is free to peacefully express his or her thoughts, opinions and beliefs without fear of persecution or oppression.”
The organization’s president John Carpay is a member of the conservative Wildrose Party in Alberta.
The focus of the index is on the policies and practices of the universities and the student unions within them. It’s based on everything from club ratification policies because of their ideology, student election policies, and equal access of facilities and space to clubs, to the prevention of controversial speakers at the university, according to the index.
Carleton had a “good” ranking for the policies and principles but ranked “poor” for their actions and practices. The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) ranked poorly for both the policies and principles as well as actions and practices.
In the report, the JCCF pointed to the lawsuit between Carleton and Lifeline as a main cause for the university’s low ranking. The index cites administration denying Carleton Lifeline equal access to university resources and facilities, imposing restrictions on the group by forcing them to turn their signs inward, charging four students with trespassing, threatening students with non-academic misconduct, and preventing them from setting up stationary displays on campus.
Christopher Cline, Carleton’s media relations co-ordinator, said the university believes they do a good job of creating a safe and free environment for students.
“We have student groups and faculty hosting talks, debates, discussion and, yes, even the occasional protest, on a range of subjects and issues,” Cline said.
He said the index agreed Carleton had good policy to create an environment for free speech, but said they focused a lot on the Lifeline incident, which he declined to comment on.
Similarly, the JCCF cited particular examples in the index that led to CUSA’s poor ranking. Specifically, it notes CUSA’s declaration to support women’s right to choice and be unsupportive of student groups with differing ideology, as well as CUSA’s prohibition on services distributing material they deem racist, sexist, or xenophobic, amongst others.
CUSA vice-president (student issues) Chantle Beeso said she believes CUSA does a good job in ensuring students feel they have a safe space and outlet on campus where they can freely express themselves.
“We do advocate for freedom of speech so long as other people’s rights aren’t being infringed upon or feel that they can’t be safe in a certain space,” said Beeso in response to the concerns raised in the report.
Beeso said although CUSA takes results of reports like these into consideration, they’re more concerned with feedback from Carleton students and faculty.
