Our uni had to draft a "freedom of expression policy" per the Ford admin, and I'm really disheartened that our union rep basically weighed in on "peaceful protests of problematic speakers is fine as long as it doesn't inconvenience anyone"
(They don't want people being loud)
Student TA rep came in with "we don't want to be penalised if we mark down students who submit beliefs under 'free speech' in contexts where it's demonstrably false (ex. climate denial in a science course, creationism in biology)"
Cheers for the sociology rep who called out the "no loud protests" thing as effectively silencing the protestors and removing disruptive protests as a historically significant and established tool.
Also chimed in that we all know where this provincial policy comes from, and that P*terson was a significant voice during consultations and there's political bias here
Another student chiming in in defense of P*terson and specifically trying to defend hosted speakers that challenge the validity gender identity (fuck off)
Oh, now we've got a P*terson stan specifically repeating his talking points re: not using words like "diversity" and "inclusiveness"
Oh! Got a heated speaker from NYC specifically calling out G*vin McIn*es involvement with Ford, specifically calling out those groups as hate groups and killers, saying this can't be a shield to support that.
Specifically called out cops, too. Called out the role of rigid, inflexible law+policy being twisted and used as a bad-faith tool. Specifically calling for the document to have provisions to update and change with new situations that may not have been foreseen.
