Post-secondaries across Alberta adopt American-flavoured free speech policies
Article content
The provincial UCP government is hailing a victory as free speech policies aligned with the Chicago Principles have rolled out at all 26 post-secondary institutions province-wide as of Monday.
In May, Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides followed in Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s footsteps and directed all institutions to adopt free speech policies aligned with the American document — developed by the University of Chicago in 2014 to demonstrate a commitment to free speech on U.S. college campuses — by Dec. 15.
Eight guiding “high-level principles,” including the prevalence of Canadian law over free speech and the role of universities as spaces for debating controversial ideas, were distributed to the institutions to guide the process, Nicolaides said in a Monday interview.
“The vast majority (of institutions) chose to write their own policy and express their views along those key principles and in their own ways,” said Nicolaides, noting all were received and approved on time with only minor changes. “Our universities and colleges are supposed to be places of debate and dialogue and strengthening free speech helps to reaffirm that central role of the university.”
The provincial directive caused some concern earlier in the year as some students and academics argued the principles are too rigid and don’t do enough to prevent discrimination and hate speech.
Nicolaides noted that a majority of institutions stressed the protections in place against such speech.
U of A Students’ Union president Akanksha Bhatnagar said in a previous interview she is satisfied by the consultations the university engaged in with students over the last several months and the “nuanced conversations” the policy will support.
“I think it just puts onto paper what we’ve already been doing as an institution,” she said on Friday after the U of A board of governors approved the university’s statement.
The change comes as a number of free speech issues have burned at the University of Alberta. Last year, the Court of Appeal of Alberta heard a case that helped determine the power of the “heckler’s veto” on Canadian campuses after a university handed a $17,500 security bill to students who wanted to hold an anti-abortion rally.
As well, U of A students continue to call for the firing of lecturer Dougal MacDonald, who denied the Holodomor genocide of tens of millions of Ukrainians in a post on his personal blog earlier in December.
Nicolaides said these instances underline the delicate balance that must exist in free speech policies and says he sees no reason at this point to intervene.
“I will continue to work with (institutions) to make sure that, of course, these are not just policies that exist on a website, but that all are also demonstrated in practice,” he said.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.