{"id":2090,"date":"2017-11-18T00:13:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T05:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=2090"},"modified":"2017-11-18T00:13:53","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T05:13:53","slug":"laurier-university-accused-of-censorship-after-ta-reprimanded-for-playing-gender-pronoun-debate-clip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=2090","title":{"rendered":"Laurier university accused of censorship after TA reprimanded for playing gender pronoun debate clip"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"meta-bar\">\n<div class=\"meta-bar-cat\"><a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/canada\/\">A<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"meta-bar-time-group\"><span class=\"meta-bar-date\">November 17, 2017<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"meta-bar-time\">9:27 pm<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"meta-bar-time-group meta-bar-time-modified\">Updated:\u00a0<span class=\"meta-bar-date\">November 17, 2017<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"meta-bar-time\">9:34 pm<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"story-h gn-speakable-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Laurier university accused of censorship after TA reprimanded for playing gender pronoun debate clip<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n<div class=\"story-byline\">\n<div class=\"standard-byline\"><span class=\"story-author\">By Rebecca Joseph and Mike Drolet <\/span><span class=\"story-via\">Global News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"socialShare withMore\" data-socialshare=\"facebook,twitter,email,whatsapp,print\" data-socialshare-more=\"google,linkedin,reddit,pinterest,tumblr,stumbleupon\" data-socialshare-collapsable=\"false\" data-socialshare-count=\"false\" data-socialshare-url=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/3868080\/laurier-accused-of-censorship-after-ta-reprimanded-for-playing-gender-pronoun-debate-clip\/\" data-socialshare-title=\"Laurier university accused of censorship after TA reprimanded for playing gender pronoun debate clip\" data-socialshare-init=\"true\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"facebook\" title=\"Share this item on Facebook\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"story-img-link\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/3868044\/#autoplay\" data-displayinline-init=\"true\"><span class=\"story-img-link-wrapper\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"story-img\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/191\/259\/Drolet_848x480_1098654275527.jpg?w=670&amp;quality=70&amp;strip=all\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fe-embed-caption\">\n<p><strong>Lindsay Shepherd, a graduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, is speaking out after the school accused her of violating their policies of trans-phobia for playing a TVO segment featuring featuring polarizing University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-txt\">\n<div class=\"story-actions\">\n<div class=\"fontSizer\"><button class=\"fontButton fontDecrease\">&#8211;<\/button>\u00a0<span class=\"fontSizerLetters\"><span class=\"small\">A<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"big\">A<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><button class=\"fontButton fontIncrease\">+<\/button><\/div>\n<div class=\"readspeaker-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"readspeaker_button1\" class=\"rs_skip rsbtn rs_preserve\"><a accesskey=\"L\" class=\"rsbtn_play\" title=\"Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker\" href=\"https:\/\/app-na.readspeaker.com\/cgi-bin\/rsent?customerid=8024&amp;lang=en_us&amp;readid=gnca_article_body_for_read&amp;url=https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/gnca-ajax\/read-aloud\/3868080\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-rsevent-id=\"rs_742522\"><span class=\"rsbtn_left rsimg rspart\"><span class=\"rsbtn_text\">Listen<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Are all perspectives valid in a debate?<\/p>\n<p>At Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, there are some viewpoints which aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>The question came up after a Lindsay Shepherd, a T.A. and a master\u2019s student, played a controversial YouTube clip during a debate about gender-neutral pronouns in her tutorial.<\/p>\n<div class=\"story-ad\">\n<section id=\"div-gpt-gnca-ads-6872-300250-2\" class=\"ad\" data-google-query-id=\"CIDW1fisx9cCFRSmaQodRf4I3Q\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/6872\/shaw.globalnews.ca\/gender-pronoun-debate\/3868080\/rjoseph1_4__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/6872\/shaw.globalnews.ca\/gender-pronoun-debate\/3868080\/rjoseph1_4\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_\/6872\/shaw.globalnews.ca\/gender-pronoun-debate\/3868080\/rjoseph1_4\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p>The clip in question featured University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, who has famously refused to use gender pronouns other than \u201che\u201d or \u201cshe,\u201d defending his position against a professor who argued it was necessary to use the pronouns that a person prefers to be called.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/3866489\/back-to-work-bill-ontario-college\/\" target=\"_blank\">Classes could resume two days after back-to-work bill passes, colleges say<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She was called into a meeting in which Laurier faculty and administration told her that playing the clip without condemnation legitimizes the viewpoint, which they don\u2019t support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a university, all perspectives are valid,\u201d she said in the meeting, which took place at the beginning of November.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not necessarily true,\u201d a staff member responded.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting, which Shepherd secretly recorded, left her in tears after staff said playing the clip created a toxic environment for transgender students and called her transphobic.<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd defended her position saying she wanted to expose her students to opinions which are in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t get how exposing people to the idea makes me transphobic,\u201d Shepherd said in the meeting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LISTEN: Excerpts from secretly recorded meeting between Wilfrid Laurier University grad student and faculty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gnca-article-story-txt gn-speakable-description\"><span class=\"story-img-link\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/3867811\/#autoplay\" data-displayinline-init=\"true\"><span class=\"story-img-link-wrapper\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"story-img\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/63\/830\/Movie%20on%202017-11-08%20at%202.29%20PM%20(online-audio-converter.com).00_00_03_07.Still002.jpg?w=670&amp;quality=70&amp;strip=all\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span>Shepherd said the clip of Peterson debating another U of T professor, Nicholas Matte, was meant to demonstrate ways in which the existence of gender-specific pronouns has caused controversy.<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd said she presented the clip of the debate neutrally and without bias, but she was told her approach to the clip was tantamount to remaining neutral on other objectionable views such as those of Adolf Hitler. She was told that she should have provided more background on Peterson\u2019s views, including his connections to the alt-right and Canada\u2019s Rebel Media, and condemned him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/3849230\/toronto-spa-silent-on-transgender-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto spa stays silent on pledge for change in policy on transgender customers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing is, when you start off saying \u2018This guy sucks don\u2019t listen to anything he says,\u2019 there\u2019s people right there who are not going to say anything, you\u2019ve silenced them,\u201d Shepherd explained.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI just wanted to open with \u2018Any ideas are welcome here.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>WATCH: Wilfrid Laurier TA says University censored her for showing clip on gender pronouns<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gnca-article-story-txt gn-speakable-description\"><span class=\"story-img-link\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/3867809\/#autoplay\" data-displayinline-init=\"true\"><span class=\"story-img-link-wrapper\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"story-img\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/1018\/487\/WilfridLaurierStudent_848x480_1098517059889.jpg?w=670&amp;quality=70&amp;strip=all\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span>While the university said the meeting took place, they didn\u2019t comment on it or respond to a request for interview from Global News. In a statement released by the president and vice-chancellor, Deborah MacLatchy, she said that the university champions \u201cThe civil debate of competing ideas, free speech, and freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe real question, however, is how do we encourage and implement these fundamental ideals in a world that\u2019s more aware of the importance of inclusivity and yet, at the same time, is growing more polarized?\u201d she wrote in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Support for Shepherd is growing, with people saying the issue is close to censorship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we as a university really believed in free speech, and if we\u2019d been underlining that all the way along, this wouldn\u2019t have been an issue, but increasingly here at Laurier and at other universities, we are censoring students,\u201d Sociology professor David Haskell told Global News.<\/p>\n<p>He also took exception to the comparison to Hitler, saying people use the argument to \u201csilence others.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI see increasingly many of my colleagues using those kind of dramatic comparisons to Hitler, to other totalitarian regimes, but they do it in order to silence others,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>WATCH: Wilfrid Laurier Professor comes to defence of censored TA Lindsay Shepherd<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gnca-article-story-txt gn-speakable-description\"><span class=\"story-img-link\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/3867812\/#autoplay\" data-displayinline-init=\"true\"><span class=\"story-img-link-wrapper\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"story-img\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/3\/770\/WilfridLaurierProf_848x480_1098512963837.jpg?w=670&amp;quality=70&amp;strip=all\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span>Katherine Fierlbeck, a political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, told the Canadian Press that she encourages genuine debate in the\u00a0classroom.<\/p>\n<p>She said failure to do so not only shortchanges students by leaving them without the skills to think critically in real-life debates, but may also drive those who feel their views are not welcome to seek out more receptive audiences, such as communities of online agitators or active proponents of hate.<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd\u2019s approach of neutrally presenting a debate to prompt further discussion was exemplary, she said, adding it was in keeping with the true spirit of academic freedom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-h gn-speakable-title\"><strong>COMMENTARY:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/3761603\/commentary-free-speech-cant-be-a-casualty-of-canadas-whole-of-government-approach-to-islamophobia\/\">Free speech can\u2019t be a casualty of Canada\u2019s \u2018whole-of-government\u2019 approach to Islamophobia<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome \u2026 understand academic freedom to mean that they can say anything about anybody at any time, but that\u2019s certainly not the case,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has to be germane to your area, and there has to be a good reason offered for what you are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd now has to put forth her lesson plans to her supervisor before her tutorials, and faculty members will be monitoring her lesson plans going forward.<\/p>\n<p><em>*With files from the Canadian Press<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A November 17, 2017\u00a09:27 pm Updated:\u00a0November 17, 2017\u00a09:34 pm Laurier university accused of censorship after TA reprimanded for playing gender pronoun debate clip By Rebecca Joseph and Mike Drolet Global News Lindsay Shepherd, a graduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, &hellip; 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