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CALGARY — It’s just a hat. But on Canadian university campuses, a hat is more than enough to offend the delicate sensibilities of students and university busybodies.

In a recent video that has now made international news, a female student at Mount Royal University in Calgary is seen demanding that a male student wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat — a trademark of Donald Trump’s campaign for president — take it off.

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“You’re not allowed to share hate language in a university,” she said. “It’s hate language on campus. You can deal with me, or you can deal with (Mount Royal University President) David Docherty.… I can’t wait for him to come to your door.”

To his credit, Docherty later reaffirmed the school’s commitment to freedom of expression, but the incident just serves to highlight how ridiculous the initial confrontation was. What we have here is an adult who saw another adult wearing a hat associated with a politician with whom she disagrees, and her immediate reaction was to more or less say, “I’m telling on you.”

Unfortunately, this behaviour is a byproduct of the modern university environment. It’s an environment where “safe spaces” coddle students — like one at Brown University in the U.S. last year, where student volunteers setup a room equipped with cookies, colouring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies for those who may have been “triggered” by the ideas that were presented to them during a speaking event at their school.