Universities and colleges in the province have just over a month left to develop and implement a free speech policy as was mandated by the Ontario government. Now, some schools are drafting new policies while some are affirming their commitment to their current policies.
On Aug. 30, Premier Doug Ford announced that post-secondary institutions that do not meet the minimum standard by the new year will see funding cuts.
The University of Toronto (U of T) is one school that says its current free speech policy—drafted in 1992—is working.
Meric Gertler, president of the U of T said in a news release that the school’s Statement of Institutional Purpose and Statement on Freedom of Expression and has encouraged students and faculty to challenge views with which they may disagree, but to engage in such debate in mutually respectful ways.
“Our principles have served us well and must continue to guide our practices,” he said. “It’s important that members of our community understand the university’s policies on how we address these issues.”
The university’s student union also passed a motion earlier this month that rejected Ford’s decision.
U of T is not amending its policy so far. Riley Moher, president of the U of T’s Students in Support of Freedom of Speech, said he would hesitate to say the policy is working well, mentioning that controversial speaking events were often shut down by student protestors.
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with people protesting if they have a problem with events being held . . . by all means, they have a right to freedom of assembly,” he said. “But, when they do things like pull the fire alarm at events or block people from entering or exiting by blocking the door, that’s really not constructive.”
James L. Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University, said universities already have policies in place, so, for him, what Ford’s government is doing is nothing new. The visiting professor added that Ford’s move is not about free speech.
“It’s about a right-wing populist Premier trying to play to his base,” he said. “He’s trying to use free speech as a weapon to attack students and to show to his base that he’s defender of what they value.”
Rebecca Bazzato, press secretary of the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, said in an email that the policy will not only protect free speech but also ensure that hate speech, discrimination and other illegal forms of speech are not allowed on campus.
She said the funding cuts amount will depend on the degree of non-compliance or the severity of infraction.
“It will be set at a level that ensures institutions comply with policy requirements going forward,” Bazzato said.
Some schools, however, are drafting new policies.
The University of British Columbia (UBC), Carleton University, and Western University have created committees to work on the policies.
UBC’s president and vice-chancellor Santa J. Ono published a draft statement of freedom of expression in June. The draft was created by 10 faculty and staff members, according to the university’s website.
The university asked for feedback and published some of the feedback on its website as well.
“Bravo. I think the draft prepared by the committee is very well done indeed,” one respondent wrote.
“All of this is well and good on paper, but how will UBC effectively handle this situation when faced with tension between two highly divided communities? Will UBC allow Nazis, segregationists, xenophobes, homophobes, sexists and racists to present their ideas publicly on campus on the basis of freedom of speech?” another person wrote.
Policy 3 on discrimination and harassment is the main policy that deals with free expression at the university and it’s up for review at the Board of Governors this year.
Carleton’s Senate also created a task force to draft a policy in September and presented students with a draft of the policy in October. Feedback was open from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6.
The draft policy reiterates Carleton’s commitment to open discussion and free inquiry.
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