Freedom of Speech - Canadian University Style
Via a press release (and retaining the links to sources):
The two previous events hosted by the [University of Toronto Men’s Issues Awareness Society] featured opposition groups forming an illegal barricade of the exit doors at a talk by award-winning educator Dr. Warren Farrell (November 16, 2012), then pulling the fire alarm at a presentation by University of Ottawa English Professor Janice Fiamengo (March 7, 2013). Both actions were in obvious violation of safety protocols, but both actions were justified by the events’ critics as required in order to stop the creation of an “unsafe space” supposedly fostered by the events targeted.
... The UTMIA’s next public event is this Thursday, April 4, a conversation entitled “From Misogyny and Misandry to Intersexual Dialogue,” directed at confronting the effects on society of sexism that robs both women and men of value and life choices, and how to create a dialogue that takes a deeper look at the interconnection of these problems. A protest of this event is planned by the UTSU and its allies, including the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students and the University of Toronto-based “Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG).” OPIRG, funded by levies on all students, has joined with more extreme groups Common Cause and the Radical Student Movement, to organize a “militant” response on Thursday. Common Cause has pledged to respond to “men’s issues” events with a “move towards reactivating a radical, militant feminist movement.” Meanwhile, the “Radical Student Movement,” promises that individuals associated with disagreeable groups will be “verbally condemned as well as physically challenged.”
... Ironically ... Scarborough Campus Student Union had recently sent a letter to the Vice Provost condemning the UTMIA’s last event, stating: “Anyone who had opposing opinions was treated aggressively. There was no commitment to engaging in dialogue and the environment was hostile, hateful, and created an unsafe space for many attendees.”
It looks like this time, as before, the police are showing up so there's some possibility of the event going forward. Despite the Scarborough Campus Student Union claim of a hostile environment it seems to have been the protesters against the speech that resulted in the police showing up ... and even a significant police presence in the past hasn't been enough to actually enable people wanting to to get in the doors to do so. The National Post described the previous event as having:
... a hostile crowd, and it revealed itself during the raucous question period, which pitted ranting questioners against a rudely dismissive emcee who kept cutting power to the microphone.
Given the protests outside requiring a police presence just to enable some to get in the doors I don't think that blame for a hostile environment can be assigned to just one group though.
Funnily enough a men's issues group blocked by Ryerson Students Union had been proposed by a majority-female group. On a tangent, I don't think I've said anything about the guy in a vagina costume recently shutting down a Canadian MP speaking in opposition to abortion (again) at a Canadian University. In the MP's words it is
... a mark of extremism to take disrespect of others as a virtue. I couldn’t outshout the shouters. I’m not there to engage in a shouting match.
Given the standards of free speech on Canadian campuses I'm a little pleasantly surprised that organization running the events at the U of T is being allowed by the university to function. It can't hurt that those they've brought in as speakers either are or have been university professors - Farrell is the only one not presently a professor but has taught at a number of universities in the past.