I taught at Wilfrid Laurier in the 1980s, before the days of “political correctness.”This was the era of the annual panty raids, which were only cancelled after the Star ran a front-page story by Michelle Landsberg. The administration defended the raids, which included public displays of the purloined underwear, smeared with mustard and ketchup, with the observation that “boys will be boys.” In 1982, the first gay students’ association was founded at Laurier, over considerable opposition, and its members actually asked to disband three years later, because they were experiencing harassment. The following are some examples of the “free speech” that was exercised at Laurier during my time there:From a senior member of the business faculty, on proposals to promote equity in faculty hiring: “Next, they’ll make us hire Black, Marxist, lesbian Eskimos.”From a senior administrator: “Sometimes departments have valid reasons not to want to hire a woman. In X department, for example, they like to tell off-colour jokes at faculty meetings.”

Source: thestar November 26, 2017 11:37 UTC