Students facing censorship
Someone should lend the University of Calgary a copy of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — we’ve heard it’s tough finding one there.
In an ongoing legal battle, the U of C recently argued universities should not be subjected to the charter as they are non-governmental organizations.
Take the Pridgen brothers.
Steven and Tyler Pridgen were punted from the U of C in November 2007 for slagging one of their instructors on a Facebook page. The page, titled “I no longer fear Hell, I took a course with Aruna Mitra,” landed the brothers on probation for non-academic misconduct.
The Pridgens posted such minorly offensive statements as “Somehow I think she just got lazy and gave everybody a 65. That’s what I got,” and “Remember when she told us she was a long-term professor? Well actually she was only sessional and picked up our class at the last moment because another prof wasn’t able to do it… Lucky us.”
Pretty terrible, eh?
The case went to the Alberta Court of Appeal earlier this month, although a decision has not been handed down.
One of the more interesting revelations came from the Pridgen’s lawyer Colin Feasby who said universities are, in fact, covered under the Charter as the document isn’t designed to oppress students.
The Pridgen case is just one of several violations happening on Canadian university campuses.
Last issue, The Reflector reported on an expert panel’s opinion that freedom of expression is being challenged at universities. The panel discussed the Pridgen case as well as several other examples where students’ rights had been violated.
The free speech fight may well be our doorstep.
Former barista Marcus Arseneault says he was fired from his job with Sodexo at Mount Royal University because of his involvement with Occupy Calgary.
Though Arseneault’s story is shaky at best, his allegations have yet to be disproven.
We’re waiting with baited breath to see how it plays out.
Marcus’s story does, however, remind us how easily censorship can occur and how important it is to stay aware of what’s happening on campus.
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I happen to be a student at the University of Calgary and I think the Pridgen brothers case is ridiculous. If they hated the professor so much they should have dropped the class. There are many resources available to university students to determine whether or not a professor is good, easy, attentive, rude, punctual, helpful, etc… and they obviously chose not to use them. They’d rather just complain in a cowardly and indirect forum behind a professors back. I can’t believe they won their case, it’s really a shame. People should be held accountable for their pathetic actions and the Universities should be able to discipline students who are not respecting their school, faculty, staff or other students. If this page had been a hate-page created about a gay student, a teachers assistant or a food-court employee, a lot less people would have been on the side of the creators. It’s easy to point fingers at professors, “oh they’re so hard with their grading and their tests” but perhaps these boys should have realized that sometimes you make sacrifices for a post-secondary education. Clearly they were more interested in behaving like immature high school students then adults with the priveledge to attend a great Canadian University. I hope U of C gets their appeal. And I hope students start spending less time complaining and more time shutting up, doing the work, and growing the hell up – no wonder he got a 65, he clearly spent more time whining about the work then actually doing it.