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The solution? The University of Alberta recently hit on a relatively novel idea. When the group UAlberta Pro-Life sought to set up an exhibit that would include displays showing graphic pictures of aborted fetuses — almost certainly offending pro-choice students or faculty — the university notified the group it would be charged a fee of $17,500 to cover the cost of security.

The group says it was informed of the charge just 11 days before the event, which the president of the club said the group couldn’t possibly afford. “Not only is $17,500 a very large number for students, but the university would have wanted a $9,000 deposit by last Friday,” said UAlberta Pro-Life’s Amberlee Nicol. “We just don’t have that kind of money.” As a result, the group had to cancel its event.

It can’t be considered anything but bizarre that the potential targets of disruption would be charged for their protection, rather than those representing the disruption. If a similar approach was taken by society at large, any group wanting to stage a public protest would receive a bill for the resultant policing budget. Should a pro-choice group wish to erect a display, and UAlberta Pro-Life members arrived to trash it, would the university hold the victims to account in a similar manner?

It is surely no coincidence that the University of Alberta chose to direct its demand towards a group with a message contrary to prevailing campus dogma. Similar requests have been made of men’s groups planning events on campus in the past, though the price tags for security in those cases were dramatically less: $964 for a University of Toronto group to host a 2013 lecture and $1,600 for the Men’s Issues Awareness Society at Ryerson University in 2014, though that fee was later withdrawn.