free speech
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Twitter when all is permitted
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Since Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, his decision to turn the platform into a haven for free speech has been a topic of great controversy. Musk stated that the “new Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” This means that tweets, although they may express unpopular or extreme opinions, will be…
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Lindsay Shepherd files $3.6M law suit against Laurier over alleged abusive treatment
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Earlier this week, Lindsay Shepherd filed a $3.6 million law suit against Wilfrid Laurier University, claiming the school’s treatment of her has deemed her unemployable in academia. The unproven claim alleges harassment, intentional infliction of nervous shock, negligence, amongst others. The statement of claim names Laurier, as well as Nathan Rambukkana, Herbert Pimlott, and Adria Joel…
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Indigenous ceremony and community protests held on campus in response to LSOI event
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The familiar campus controversy surrounding Lindsay Shepherd and the polarizing debate around freedom of expression was present once again this evening on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus. The controversy stems from another event in the “Unpopular Opinion Speaker Series” hosted by Shepherd and her new club, Laurier Society for Open Inquiry (LSOI) — an unofficial…
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LSOI event at UW cancelled over $28,500 security fee
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An event hosted by Laurier Students for Open Inquiry (LSOI) set to take place on April 30 has been cancelled due to increased security costs. Lindsay Shepherd, the controversial Laurier TA behind LSOI, announced the cancellation of the event via tweet at 1:57 p.m. “$28,500 is the confirmed figure @UWaterloo said we would have to…
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UPDATED: Lawyer suggests that no formal complaint was made in Shepherd incident
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A polarizing debate between freedom of expression and human rights has enveloped the Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus. The debate stems from a situation surrounding Laurier teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd who showed a TVO clip of Jordan Peterson in her first-year communications tutorial. The clip spoke to the validity of pronouns, specifically, the use of…
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Defining Hate Speech across Canada
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The discussion of the discernment between free speech and hate speech is a difficult one, with an especially prominent place on the Wilfrid Laurier campus in recent weeks. There are enormous discrepancies between the types of speech deemed appropriate, and they are all subjectively organized to reflect their own community and their own community’s…
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Revisiting feedback and responses to Robitaille’s cancelled keynote
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After defence lawyer Danielle Robitaille cancelled her keynote presentation at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Criminology Student Association conference on the Brantford campus, the Laurier community, as well as numerous publications around Kitchener-Waterloo and the Greater Toronto Area, began the debate on what constitutes free speech on university campuses. On March 3, Danielle Robitaille was announced by…
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Is friends with benefits worth the risk?
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In this day and age, more and more people prefer hooking up and being friends with benefits than having a boyfriend or girlfriend. The reason behind this is that relationships can be too much work. They can be high maintenance for students who have classes to worry about, extracurriculars to work on and parties to…
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Your first heart break isn’t the end of the world
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Many say that you never truly forget your first love. This may not necessarily be the first person you fall for, the first person you’re intimate with or the first person you get into a relationship with. They are, however, the first person you reveal your true self to, all your imperfections and your fears.…
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Giving all voices platforms to speak
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In late May, controversy erupted over conservative political pundit Milo Yiannopoulos’s “Dangerous Faggot” tour at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois in which he gave a speech he calls “Feminism is Cancer.” During his presentation, two student activists by the name of Kayla Johnson and Edward Ward, associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, walked onto…
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