The woman, who is a teaching assistant showed a TV Ontario debate on gender-neutral pronouns. (That's where you can't say him or her, or Mr. or Mrs. or Miss anymore, but rather have to say "them" and "their" and "ze" etc. etc.
Laurier graduate student Lindsay Shepherd says that she was subtly censured earlier this month for showing a debate on TVO’s The Agenda between controversial University of Toronto academic Jordan Peterson, who rose to national prominence after refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns in his classrooms, and sexual diversity scholar Nicholas Matte.Ms. Shepherd was called out for even raising the debate on what was right or wrong but during the hearing she had the where-with-all to record what happened in the Kangaroo Court.
“They were telling me that you can’t debate something like this because it causes an unsafe or toxic learning environment,” Shepherd told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday. “I ended up being called transphobic and someone who causes harm and violence.”
Laurier University's public apology only came after Shepherd shared the recording with media. “Let's not forget that this was [the university’s] only option," Shepherd told The Canadian Press on Tuesday. "They were basically forced to do it out of public and media shaming."
According to Simon Kiss, an assistant professor in digital media and journalism at Laurier, there have been at least two incidents in the past year in which the university has curbed academic debate.
“We see this not as just an isolated incident, but a serious problem that needs to be addressed with kind of a foundational statement at Laurier on freedom of speech,” Kiss told CTV Kitchener.
Kiss is part of a group of professors who have started a petition that urges Laurier to support a statement on freedom of expression on campus. The issue, Kiss says, has become increasingly important since the university adopted a policy designed to prevent “gendered and sexual violence” in 2016.
“While that’s important and meritorious, the policy as it was written was very broad and vague and it has contributed to both of these serious incidents where speech or debate has been constricted,” Kiss said.
According to MacLatchy, in addition to supporting a third-party investigation into Shepherd’s case, the university will also be creating a taskforce to provide more clarity on how these types of situations should be handled in the future.
With reports from CTV Kitchener’s Natalie van Rooy and The Canadian Press
MEANWHILE: Something you long suffering reporter agrees with! (I'm an agnostic but if there is a God then we should call God, God. And nothing else!)
The Church of Sweden is urging its clergy to use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity, refraining from using terms like “Lord” and “He” in favour of the less specific “God.”
The move is one of several taken by the national Evangelical Lutheran church in updating a 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted in terms of language, liturgy, hymns and other aspects. The decision was taken Thursday at the end of an eight-day meeting of the church’s 251-member decision-making body, and takes effect May 20 on the Christian holiday of Pentecost.Personally I have always called God by the name "Howard" (Our Father who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name) but what you call God is up to you!
The way I see it wanyway!
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