Expressive Freedom and Ethical Responsibility at Canadian Universities
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: English Language and Literatures, Department of
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: Thieme, K. (2023). Expressive Freedom and Ethical Responsibility at Canadian Universities. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, 44(1), Article 1.
creator: Thieme, Katja
issued: 2024-11-20T17:09:21Z
issued: 2023
description: This article reviews recent government incursions on questions of free speech at universities and colleges in Ontario and Alberta and presents the challenge they pose to university autonomy. Inherent in university autonomy is the possibility—or the obligation—that universities make decisions based on ethical responsibilities that can extend beyond the limits of current law. As a case study of university autonomy in matters of expressive freedom, I highlight events at the University of British Columbia, which leads me to a discussion of how questions of ethical responsibility have been raised particularly in relation to the speech protection of transgender members of the university. A central issue is the need for universities to adjudicate when free speech rights meet related responsibilities with which they can conflict. I detail how, for instance, the invitation of some anti-trans speakers can pose such a conflict and should lead university communities to consider adjusting their responses in extreme cases so as to be able to more autonomously regulate hateful speech beyond applicable law.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/89685
note: Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social JusticeIssue 44.1 (2023)ResearchExpressive Freedom and Ethical Responsibility at Canadian Universitiesby Katja ThiemeAbstract: This article reviews recent government incur-sions on questions of free speech at universities and col-leges in Ontario and Alberta and presents the challenge they pose to university autonomy. Inherent in university autonomy is the possibility—or the obligation—that universities make decisions based on ethical responsibil-ities that can extend beyond the limits of current law. As a case study of university autonomy in matters of ex-pressive freedom, I highlight events at the University of British Columbia, which leads me to a discussion of how questions of ethical responsibility have been raised par-ticularly in relation to the speech protection of trans-gender members of the university. A central issue is the need for universities to adjudicate when free speech rights meet related responsibilities with which they can conflict. I detail how, for instance, the invitation of some anti-trans speakers can pose such a conflict and should lead university communities to consider adjusting their responses in extreme cases so as to be able to more autonomously regulate hateful speech beyond applicable law.Keywords: academic freedom; Canadian universities; dignitary safety; freedom of expression; trans rightsAuthor: Katja Thieme analyzes contemporary and his-torical genres of academic and political writing. In previ-ous publications, she studied the discourse of the Cana-dian women’s suffrage movement, method descriptions in academic writing on Indigenous studies and Canadian literature, and practices of citation in research articles on trans studies. She teaches on discourse analysis, research writing, and political movements as an uninvited guest on the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territory of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish nations. She tweets—somewhat irreverently—at @Katja_…
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0447303
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher DOI: 10.7202/1108911ar
rights: Attribution 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
subject: Academic freedom
subject: Canadian universities
subject: Dignitary safety
subject: Freedom of expression
subject: Trans rights
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89685