Report card hands York an embarrassing D-grade on free speech

The York Federation of Students isn’t the only institution running afoul of free speech watch dogs.
According to the 2015 Campus Freedom Index, published annually since 2011 by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, York itself ranks low on the list of Canadian universities for free speech, rated D for policies and D for practices.
JCCF claims York practices censorious policies that could be used to censor unpopular speech and imposes security fees on groups which share controversial messages.
[su_pullquote]“Further,” the report reads, “it (York) lacks a broad anti-disruption policy that would prohibit the disruption of all student events and expression.”[/su_pullquote]
Although the JCCF could not be reached for comment, the Ontario Civil Liberties Association responded to inquiries from Excalibur.
Joseph Hickey, executive director, OCLA, says universities are places of inquiry where ideas, prejudices, and misconceptions can be expressed. The freedom to make mistakes is another aspect of the university.
“Any point of view that somebody holds comes from their experience and comes from their perception of reality,” says Hickey.
“It reveals that these points of view exist so that they can be evaluated by society.”
According to Hickey, students should be very concerned when a university or a student association acts as a barrier to the expression of any idea because such barriers can deter students from attending a university.
“The lack of free speech creates an environment in which students are oblivious to what is occurring on their campus,” says Emile Wickham, former YFS presidential candidate and university governor.
“Prospective students can’t be pushed away from something that cannot reach their eyes and ears and thus impact their minds and hearts,” he adds.
“Universities have institutional independence and what that means is that they should be creating a space and defending freedom of speech and academic freedom from outside forces,” he adds.
When it comes to rebutting free speech, Hickey says hate is a human emotion and in a healthy democracy, people are free to express their emotions and to feel them. “We should not have rules that outlaw expression of certain emotion,” says Hickey.
Universities can lead by example by supporting controversial speech “precisely because it’s controversial and controversial speech is needed.”
For their part, York disagrees with the assessment and restates a commitment to free speech.
“York has consistently publicly affirmed its commitment to free speech and works with students and student groups to help ensure successful events that they wish to hold on campus,” says Noël Badiou,executive director, Centre for Human Rights.
According to Badiou, York’s primary objective is to ensure that academic services are not disrupted and the safety of the community is maintained.
“We strive to find spaces where students can fully, safely, and respectfully express their views and opinions in a manner consistent with the criminal code, other applicable statutes, and university policy,” adds Badiou.
“This is true regardless of how controversial the views or opinions may be.”
 
Alex Kvaskov
Assistant News Editor