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A mind-bending act of political correctness by student leaders at the University of Ottawa has sparked an international backlash on social media.

Student leaders at the university have halted free yoga classes because of concerns that its practice was not sufficiently sensitive to yoga’s cultural roots.

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The decision earlier this fall meant that about 60 students in yoga instructor Jennifer Scharf’s weekly class lost out on the program, which had been offered through the university’s Centre for Students with Disabilities since 2008.

Scharf even offered to rebrand the program as a “mindful stretching” class to distance it from any controversy over cultural appropriation, but that idea was rejected because a suitable French translation of the phrase could not be reached.

The story became an international talking point when New York Times technology writer Farhad Manjoo retweeted it to his legion of followers, among them Canadian-born Conservative pundit David Frum.