Last week, three Toronto universities found and removed posters from campus message boards. The posters advertised a “Students for Western Civilization” union and billed itself as a “white students union.” What should go without saying now bears repeating: These groups have absolutely no place on a university campus.
Universities are often held up as beacons of free speech and thought. You’d be hard-pressed to find a news outlet lately that hasn’t published a half-baked opinion piece about the death of free speech.
Whatever the state of free speech in Canada, these posters cross the line. Organizations such as those advertised are completely inappropriate, and are an assault on the safety of people of colour on campus. To suggest otherwise is hate speech, and has real and tangible consequences for students who would no longer feel safe on campus.
Universities are places of higher education and thought, places where learning and knowledge flourish. Groups whose purpose is to empower and provide equity to marginalized students are an important part of campus life. But students creating a white student union are ignoring historical and social context that creates an unsafe situation for people of colour.
Preaching ideals that privilege one race over another is wrong. This should be obvious, but the actions of these people prove otherwise.
