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Universities are not supposed to be day care centres, catering to the emotions and whims of students who might be upset about ideas that differ from their own. Free speech sometimes hurts. It often offends. But it pushes boundaries. Just like when people were offended by the idea that blacks should be as equal as their white counterparts, or that women should be able to vote. When people took offence of the idea that abortion was a right or that gay couples should have the right to marry. Freedom of speech allowed the venue for each of these progressions to thrive.

In response to this increasing censorship of ideas on campus, the University Chicago published a Statement on Principles of Freedom of Expression. In summary, it states that:

1. The University will create a culture that fosters civil inquiry and informed arguments – on all matters.

2. All speech and ideas are free to be expressed by faculty and students with the only exceptions being those that incite violence, violate the law, or breach privacy/confidentiality.

3. Free speech cannot be used to prevent someone else’s right to speak or to hear free speech.

4. The University will also reserve the right to regulate the time, place or manner of speech such that it does not disrupt activities on campus.

The University of Ottawa has scored an “F” on Policy and Practices for two of the past three years on the Freedom Index, a measurement of the state of free speech at Canadian public universities. How can we call ourselves a university if we refuse to be a venue for the marketplace of ideas, and limit ourselves to being an echo-chamber of dogma? University of Ottawa – diverse in everything but ideas and viewpoints. But it doesn’t have to be this way.