The faculty of Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada recently subjected an undergraduate teaching assistant Lindsay Shephard to a tribunal for the crime of having shown a video clip of a professor of clinical psychology Jordan Peterson on Canadian public TV during one of her grammar classes. The tribunal likened this to uncritically showing a clip of Hitler, and she was initially reprimanded for having caused “gender violence” and creating “an unsafe learning environment.”
Jordan Peterson rose to international prominence last year when he warned about Bill C-16 in Canada concerning forced speech of transgender pronouns. He predicted that the law would quickly be used by totalitarian leftist ideologues as a tool to stifle free speech, to render certain fields of psychology and biology illegal to teach and that he would risk being fired for simply having posted this video.
Initially, he was ridiculed in the media for being paranoid, but to their credit, they quickly changed their attitude upon learning that the University of Toronto indeed threatened to fire him, precisely as he predicted.
Nevertheless, the far-left politicians of Canada passed the law, ignoring his warnings. Sadly, his dire predictions about the law being used by totalitarian cultural Marxists have been borne to fruition, as evidenced by the events at Laurier University.
Caught on Tape
Fortunately for Shephard, she had the presence of mind to record the procession secretly and published it on YouTube. Once people started hearing the grave content, the leadership of Laurier University published a public apology to Shephard. Below is the entire clip.
During the inquisition, outrageous claims were made about biology, psychology and prominent scholars such as Jordan Peterson and Charles Murray. One professor said about showing the video clip:
“This is debating whether a trans-student should have rights during one of their classes and that is not acceptable[.] It would be the equivalent of debating whether a student of color should have rights or should be allowed to be married. Do you see how this is not intellectually neutral?”
Human Rights?
Shephard defended herself by saying “I was not taking sides. I was presenting both arguments” to which the professor responded: “This is counter to the Canadian Human Rights code (Bill C-16).” When asking for a clarification of what her violations of the code had been, she was told “gender-based violence.” Here is the full video clip that the professors and administrators branded as “gender violence” and “hate speech.” Shephard only showed five minutes from the debate.
During the inquisition, Professor Nathan Rambukkana accused Jordan Peterson of being “associated with the alt-right” and linked him to Richard Spencer who he called “a white supremacist.” He claimed that Peterson was not a valid scholar and that his ideas should never be presented in the future.
In the same vein, he branded esteemed classical liberal Charles Murray as a “racist” for having published The Bell Curve, which he claimed was debunked, and likened it to “climate denialists.”
A Non-Apology
After the recording was released, Rambukkana did release a public apology to Shephard, but it appears more that he was sorry for being caught than for being wrong.
Although universities across North America have been infected by this leftist ideology, brave souls like Lindsay Shephard are helping to fight these totalitarians. It gives hope for the future that one day cultural Marxism can be eradicated from academia.
