U Calgary students union revokes anti-abortion group's club status

[wgauci]

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/...niversity.html

I'm not an anti-abortionist, but while reading through this article, one statement by on of the universities lawyers kind of stuck me. See if you agree...

In November, university lawyer Paul Beke said the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to universities, and freedom of expression protection does not extend to trespassers.

I didn't realize you could suspend the Charter by walking onto university grounds. Who knew.

[eljay]

Campus Pro-Life ran afoul of university administrators in November for displaying posters of aborted fetuses. The posters compared abortion to the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan and the genocide in Rwanda.

This might explain why...

[wgauci]

Sorry Eljay,

The post posted before I could enter my text. I was really commenting on the Charter statement. I really wasn't going to debate the reasoning for the suspension.

[eljay]

Ah. Well, then, never mind!

[JesseJ]

If my memory serves me correct, I think some people that were not in the group or students were coming on campus and protesting. I may be incorrect. I don't know where they stand though, seeing as it is a public institution.

The pictures were extremly graphic. I was there for 5 years, and all 5 years this group was there. It was awful, distasteful, and a poor choice of comparison.

[wgauci]

Sorry to burst your bubble.

However, while we're on it, it does seem like these student unions throughout the country seem to be dictatorships that take political correctness to extremes.

From what I can see, the union really hasn't explained what "rule" the club has violated.

The pattern seems to be that these unions try to suppress any view they don't agree with. Again, i'm not an anti-abortionist and i'm just playing devils advocate, but what's wrong with showing the reality of abortion? It might give some people a reason to pause and think about the real results of their choices.

[jvincent]

Don't get me started on the farce that is Student Union politics.

wgauci got it 100% right here.

However, while we're on it, it does seem like these student unions throughout the country seem to be dictatorships that take political correctness to extremes.

[cooper83]

what's wrong with showing the reality of abortion?

In the case of displaying an image of an aborted fetus, they're only showing the physical reality of abortion, and none of the social impact. They're preying on people's emotions, and comparing prospective mothers to Nazis.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Between this and certain campus unions in Ontario trying to have Jewish academics boycotted, university campuses are losing the very essence of what makes them vital: principled, respectful debate. Tactics like this, regardless of which side of the issue you sit on, are shameful. Since Canadians don't consider pro-choice individuals to be evil, is the message being taken away from this that the Holocaust wasn't evil? Beyond the distastefulness of the tactic, it is a poorly thought out and unintelligently made argument. Not what one hopes to see on a university campus.

[Nighthawk 1]

Agreed JC. It seems more and more that the student groups are dominated by special interest groups that rather than represent the student body at large, tend to put forth their own agendas......kind of like the way our present political system operates (but thats another thread).

I found the University of Victoria student group policy of banning the armed forces exhibit on career day most distasteful, considering their trumpeting of free speech yada yada. Only when the student body voiced their disapproval did they permit a referendum (why was this even necessary to have). The student body voted to allow the exhibit. This year the forces exhibit was forced into a corner. Soon enough, protesters arrived and placed a coffin in front of the forces table forcing people to squeeze through if they wished.

Universities of all places should be bastions of free speech, it seems with most student societies these days only those whose policies they endorse are allowed their say.

[Onslow]

Who cares? Rather than take advantage of a good university education these narcissistic nitwits try to become someone on the cheap. How terribly boring and daft. Even worse is when they leave university and are courted by the political parties for their "spunk". Hi Ira from the crazy, ferkhakhta goyim!

Ignore them. Their fellow students do.

[wgauci]

OK, I'm done with being the devils advocate, I agree with JC. The whole display smacks of extremeism and reminds my of those religous yahoo's in the States picketing gay funerals.

To get the thread back to what I originally posted it for, how is it that the Charter of Rights doesn't apply on a university campus?

[bliew]

When I read this, there is a second important paragraph omitted from your quote:

In November, university lawyer Paul Beke said the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to universities, and freedom of expression protection does not extend to trespassers.

"Protesters are on the university's private property and they have refused to follow the university's instructions. Because they won't co-operate, they had to give notice to the protesters that they will become illegal protesters."

It's not clear to me in the wording whether the Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn't apply to universities in general (which I also don't understand why it wouldn't apply), or whether in the context of trespassers on private property, various freedoms don't apply to trespassers, which then does make more sense to me.

[JohnnyCanuck]

The free speech rights in the Charter have always been subject to some limitation. The Criminal Code contains several offenses that have been held to be constitutional despite the limitations they place on free speech (hate provisions, child pornography).

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by wgauci

Sorry Eljay,

The post posted before I could enter my text. I was really commenting on the Charter statement. I really wasn't going to debate the reasoning for the suspension.

They where trespassing, not "simply walking on university grounds"