Toronto (ON), Oct. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Students and Community Members Rally to Protest Ford Government Policy Directive

Ontario’s universities and colleges are vital spaces where a culture of rich academic debate and free expression should be fostered. Core to the mandate of our postsecondary institutions is the advancement of knowledge, and that requires our campuses to be places where all community members have the right to speak their minds and respectfully challenge each other intellectually. Faculty associations, labour unions, and student unions deeply believe in these rights, and will continue our collective work to uphold them. 

There is no free speech crisis on Ontario campuses. This is an ideological fiction advanced by the government to justify interference in the academic governance and autonomy of Ontario’s universities and colleges. 

“It is telling that the government did not consult any sector stakeholders before announcing the new requirement for campus “free speech” policies and disciplinary measures tied to possible cuts to university and college funding,” said Nour Alideeb, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario.

Students have organized a rally at Ryerson today in protest to the attacks on building activism on campus. Students are unwilling to allow such a policy directive that in every sense threatens the growth of activism and critical thought. 

Contact:

Hildah Otieno
Executive Director
Canadian Federation of Students Ontario
416-925-3825

Nour Alideeb
Canadian Federation of Students - Ontario
4169253825
n.alideeb@cfsontario.ca