Article content continued

There certainly is.

On Oct. 27, 2015, MIAS was informed its application for club status had been rejected.

Would ‘bring violence and misogyny’

“The reasons they gave us were ridiculous,” the group’s former president Kevin Arriola recalled in an interview. “They claimed that we would bring violence and misogyny against women on campus, which is not true. Half our members were women. If you look at our mandate, our constitution, as well as the events that we held, none of them were in any way directed negatively towards women. ”

UTM Students for Life used to have club status at UofT Mississauga but the students’ union refused to renew them because of their “stance on abortion.” Then they changed tack and said it was because of technical problems in their constitution. Yet when SFL tried to make the required changes, Moore claimed the student association stacked the meeting with people opposed to the group and the motion failed.

These “shenanigans,” he said, are examples of the bad faith these clubs have endured. Perell conceded it seemed rather “kafkaesque.”

The third group, Speak for the Weak, was told it was denied club status because it’s pro-life and allowing the club on campus would run counter to “building an environment free of systemic societal oppression and decolonization.”

For heaven’s sake.

Meanwhile, the lawyers for the student unions insisted they are private corporations making private decisions and the court has no right to interfere. The Charter, they argued, doesn’t apply to them.

But they operate in public institutions funded by tax dollars — why do they get to silence voices that have a right to be heard?

The judge has reserved his decision.

mmandel@postmedia.com