The Editorial Board’s one-sided analysis of Ann Coulter’s recent mistreatment by the University of Ottawa deserves greater analysis.
First, a clear summary of the events is necessary. Coulter was invited to speak at the University of Ottawa by the Campus Conservatives who were subsequently granted an auditorium by the administration to host the event.
However, the student government at U of O decided to denounce Coulter for what they defined as her “hate speech” and refused to allow the Campus Conservatives to put up posters advertising her speech. In fact, the student government and its cronies resorted to tearing down all the posters already up.
While the unrestrained emotions of students are to be expected, University of Ottawa vice president and Provost François Houle proceeded to write Coulter a letter, and, in the most condescending tone possible, proceeded to caution Coulter to “educate herself” on the free speech laws of Canada lest her errant mouth “lead to criminal charges.” The example he chose to educate her with was hate speech used against an “identifiable group.”
Now, on the day of the event, the peaceful students at U of O lined up, attended Coulter’s speech and challenged her controversial political ideas with well-reasoned arguments of their own.
Wrong. Around 2,000 of our peaceful counterparts to the north barricaded the entrance to the auditorium, issued threats of violence against Coulter, and called for the burning of her books. In fact, Coulter was secured in a nearby building with a bodyguard and local police due to the overwhelming threat against her.
Now, why did Coulter file a hate crime allegation against Houle? Two reasons. First, Houle singled Coulter out among all other speakers who have come to the University of Ottawa in an effort to intimidate and embarrass her because she is a conservative.
As Coulter was quick to point out, the university has previously hosted such loving and tolerant guest speakers as Israel hater Omar Barghouti and former Black Panther and communist Angela Davis, neither of which received a letter of concern from Provost Houle. The school also celebrates a week-long anti-Semitic festival called Israel Apartheid Week. How charming.
Second, Coulter is proving the point she is always trying to get across. There is a double standard in the mainstream media and academia against conservatives who are routinely harassed and boycotted while every theocratic dictator (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad), accused cop-killing leftist (William Ayers) or pro-infanticide professor (Peter Singer) is celebrated as an enlightened progressive.
Maybe if the students and administration at the University of Ottawa truly cared about broadening their knowledge and being tolerant of all civil discourse, then they wouldn’t be scared out of their insulated minds over a speech Coulter never had the chance to give.
