Victory for campus free
speech - University of Calgary pro-life club reinstated
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF)
today announced that the Campus Pro-Life Club at the University of Calgary has
been officially reinstated, with the Students Union choosing to abandon its
February 2009 decision to strip the club of its official status as a campus
club.
In February of 2009, a Clubs Committee Panel
of the Student Union removed club status from Campus Pro-Life for having set up
the Genocide Awareness Project display on campus, something which the club has
been doing twice per year since 2006. Campus Pro-Life had resisted the
university’s demands to set up the display in such a way that no passersby can
see the display.
This February 2009 decision to decertify the
club had been under appeal since the time it was issued, and had therefore not
gone into effect. The Student Union Executive has chosen to withdraw its
complaint against Campus Pro-Life, so there is no longer a need to hear the
appeal, and the club will retain its status as an official campus
club.
"The Canadian Constitution Foundation takes no
position on abortion, but supports free speech rights for all Canadians,
particularly on the campus of a public university,” stated lawyer John Carpay,
Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
"I am pleased that this issue with the
students union has been resolved, and that campus pro-life has the same right as
other campus clubs to express its viewpoint, without facing discrimination from
the students union,” added Carpay.
However, the resolution of this dispute with
the Students Union does not mark the end of the students’ fight for free speech
on campus.
Eight Campus Pro-Life students are currently
appealing a May 2010 decision of the university administration which found the
students guilty of "non-academic misconduct” for having set up their display on
campus. University of Calgary Vice-Provost has decreed that Alanna Campbell,
Leah Hallman, Cristina Perri, Ryan Wilson, Cameron Wilson, Peter Csillag, Joanna
(Asia) Strezynski and Nicholas McLeod are guilty of a "Major Violation” – a
category which includes vandalism, firearms misuse, selling drugs, and sexual
assault.
The U of C has not classified "setting up a
pro-life display” as "non-academic misconduct.” Instead, the university
administration uses Campus Security as a censorship tool. When pro-life students
defied the university’s censorship demands, they were accused of "failing to
comply with the direction of a Campus Security Officer in the legitimate pursuit
of his/her duties,” and have now been found guilty of this offence. The
university has thus far refused to explain whether (or how or why) censoring the
peaceful expression of opinion on campus is one of the duties of Campus
Security.
The controversial "Genocide Awareness Project”
has been set up on campus at the University of Calgary nine times since 2006.
Initially the U of C posted its own signs nearby, stating this expression was
protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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