Academia, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Pro-Life Students Attacked at Ryerson University in Latest Assault on Free Speech

We have been following the increasing violence seen on college campuses, particularly directed against conservative and pro-life speakers.  The latest incident occurred at Ryerson University in Ontario  where a video captured Ryerson Student Gabriela “Gabby” Skwarko attacking two members of Toronto Against Abortion (TAA).  Skwarko works for the school’s Office of Social Innovation. The video below shows a violent and unprovoked attack to stop an act of free speech on campus.

Skwarko, a member of the Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective, kicked the displays and physically attacked the pro-life activists as well as taking property and throwing it about.

 

Strangely, Skwardo is temporarily forbidden from contacting fellow student Blaise Alleyne, president and founder of TAA, but there is no indication that she was banned immediately from campus.  Indeed, the university did not respond to media inquiries.

We have been discussing the enculturation of anti-free speech values in college students across the country.   One recent incident occurred at the California State University where assistant professor of public health professor Greg Thatcher is shown on a videotape wiping out the pro-life statements written in chalk by members of Fresno State Students for Life.  The university is now being sued over the incident.

The incident raises troubling memories of  the controversy surrounding the confrontation of Feminist Studies Associate Professor Mireille Miller-Young with pro-life advocates on campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Miller-Young led her students in attacking the pro-life display, stealing their display, and then committing battery on one of the young women.  She was convicted and sentenced for the crime.  Despite the shocking conduct of Miller-Young and the clear violation of the most fundamental values for all academics in guaranteeing free speech and associational rights, the faculty overwhelmingly supported Miller-Young and the university decided not to impose any meaningful discipline. To make matters worse, Michael D. Young, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, not only issued a statement that seemed to blame the victims but practically defended Miller-Young’s conduct. Faculty and student defenders attacked the pro-life advocates and one even referred to them as “terrorists” who did not deserve free speech.  Miller-Young should have been fired but was instead lionized by faculty and students.

The obvious response to this video is to fire Skwardo and expel her from the university.  She not only committed a violent attack on another student but actively sought to prevent the exercise of free speech at the university.  Teachers and students like Miller-Young, Thatcher, and Skwardo believe that they have free license to attack or silence conservative or pro-life speakers at their schools. The response to controversies like the one at University of California at Santa Barbara reinforce such views.

Ryerson must now prove that academic freedom and free speech are protected on its campus for all students, including those who are pro-life.

 

76 thoughts on “Pro-Life Students Attacked at Ryerson University in Latest Assault on Free Speech”

  1. So, Paul C., what you’re saying is “Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder”?
    😊

    1. Cindy Bragg – not so much the holder as the consumer of beer, lots of beer. 😉 I cannot remember the name of the TV program, but they did science experiments and they did one on beer googles. It worked on 2 out of 3 of them.

  2. She doesn’t have to worry about abortion, no guy in his right mind would have sex with that dyke, just saying.

    1. Glenn Williams – we don’t know how good she would look to the right desperate guy with 15 beers under his belt and a severe case of “beer googles.” 😉

  3. Here we are again, saying how terrible these attacks are on free speech, free expression, or whatever label you want to use. But the truth of the matter is that what is happening in America are the NAZI seeming sympathizers are attacking free speech and free expression here in a country that is the world champion of these 2 concepts. No doubt about it. This painful period will also pass because America is much more that just what damage a few gangsters can possibly cause. But here we are wasting our time to write and post nearly 70 comments, which have absolutely NO EFFECT on any of this. There is no changing of anyone’s mind, here. Not over there, either. So now what?!?

    1. This is to show the widespread problem. If America doesn’t wake up, it will take over here. There are already key people in the government that will implement these crazy social fascist ideologies and turn this country into something worse then Venezuela!!! These people are communist. Socialism is a step down the ladder to communism. Very little difference between the two and there are those in the government not even hiding there intentions. They see abortion as population control of the poor and minorities. Euthanasia all over again. Life is sacred!

  4. anyways, pro life is a flexible notion. i reject the right winger’s teleological approach to it which presumes all life has value. i don’t agree.

    the right to life is fundamentally political. the right to life of your own nation and group, is higher than the socalled right to life of the opposing army’s.

    what was the “Right to life” of the men women and children of Amalek or Jerhico, when God commanded the Israelites to put them all to the sword?

    you see abortion is a SPECIAL RIGHT that women have to kill the defenseless unborn in their own bodies. the feminists have a strong enmity towards men and the “patriarchy” which enables them to kill and demand the right to licit killing privilege and “access”

    one day, men may decide they have special rights too. actually, in most of the world, men still do have some special rights. which may seem brutal, but perhaps less brutal than what the feminists claim. it’s a matter of perspective, i suppose.

    1. I personally believe that life begins at conception and ends at natural death. However that life is the result of fertilization of an ovum and sperm. Since the sperm is from the father, he SHOULD have some say in the life of the baby but not to force the women to kill the baby. I believe the woman does not have the right to kill a life either.

      I think a great many “feminists” are only interested in their own rights and don’t care about the rights of an unborn daughter. Calling it a “blob of tissue” doesn’t make it so.

      1. If a pro-lifer protests NON-VIOLENTLY and a counter-protester does so NON-VIOLENTLY, it’s free speech. Anything that involves attacking the other physically, is “hate speech” and assault and should NOT be excused.

  6. It’s time to stop all state funding of “higher education”. 90% of what is taught is a complete and utter waste of time and resources. Let these universities survive on their own.

    1. Washington State University is considered to offer higher learning. In engineering. In veterinary medicine. In agriculture. In education. Etc.

      Most people find these essential.

      1. David Benson is the King of Making Stuff Up and owes me sixteen citations (one from the OED) and the source of a quotation, after nineteen weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – what they don’t find essential is queer studies and women and gender studies. I looked at all the program offerings and I could easily trim 15 from the title alone. With a little time, I could get the offered programs down to 100.

  7. Anyone interested in the university’s busy coat of arms:

    https://www.ryerson.ca/calendar/2018-2019/about-ryerson/coat-of-arms/

    The torch is the symbol of light, education, liberty and increasing knowledge.

    The lamp is the symbol of intelligence giving forth the flame of the spirit within. It is light in the darkness. It is inspiration.

    The set square is the symbol of artifact, construction and building. It represents the practical and material.

    Aries, the Ram, rising in the vernal (spring) equinox, and is the symbol of the creative impulse through which the potential becomes the actual. In Astrology, it governs the head and the brain.

    The motto, “Mente et Artificio” translates from Latin as “With Mind and Skill”.

    The colours are azure (blue), signifying loyalty and truth, and or (gold) signifying generosity and elevation of the Mind.

    (I think the Maple leaves in Aries’ mouth must mean, “Just kidding to all of the above.)

    1. Just the fact that Michael Avenatti lost again gives me joy. May he meet the same lack of success in his bid for the Presidency in 2020! I still think he just uses Stormy to pad his own wallet, but hey, she’s a big girl. She can tell him to get lost if she wants to.

      1. Diane Giova – saying that Stormy is a big girl understates the problems. 😉

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