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LONDON — Western University is beefing up security for a lecture by a controversial Toronto professor whose appearances often draw heated protests.

And the school is making a student group pick up the tab.

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University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, a free-speech advocate who has made national headlines by refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns in his classroom, is speaking Saturday at Western.

“I think there will definitely be some sort of protest,” says first-year student Kyle Maresky, an organizer of the London lecture.

Tickets sold out over the weekend for Peterson’s talk, an event that has sparked a debate about free speech on campus.

Maresky said he met with school officials and campus police who told him Young Canadians in Action, the group bringing Peterson to Western, would have to foot the $1,200 security bill. Young Canadians in Action is a new group at Western that advocates for free speech and debate.

Jana Luker, Western’s vice-president of student experience, said the fee covers paying for campus police to provide security.

“With any speaker event that we have, we just make sure the students can have a safe environment,” said Luker, adding that protests at Peterson’s past appearances played a role in the security assessment.