Free preach

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/10/2010 (5465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy has suggested his institution was not well-served by its valedictorian on Sunday when earned degrees were handed out to students and honorary degrees conferred upon recipients who had been deemed worthy. Mr. Axworthy was right. Some students, particularly valedictorian Erin Larson, reacted to the fact that Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews was granted an honorary degree in a way that does not speak well for the education the university has given them.

Mr. Toews’ record as a politician is controversial. That his honorary degree might not sit well with every University of Winnipeg student is hardly surprising and those who objected had a right to protest. Most of those who protested did so politely and peacefully outside the hall where the ceremony took place.

Ms. Larson’s performance was something entirely different. She used her valedictorian’s speech not to reflect on student life and the opportunities that the university and Canadian taxpayers have afforded these young people, but to preach a culture of exclusion, a world where people with ideas that differ from those held by her and her coterie are ignored or forbidden.

Mr. Toews, it seems, holds opinions that, in Ms. Larson’s view, disqualify people from public acknowledgement. He opposes gay marriage, for example, and is in favour of imprisoning violent and recidivist criminals. Those are opinions held by many Canadians.

The University of Winnipeg “has a reputation for having a social conscience,” Ms. Larson says, as if those who disagree with her do not. One might accuse Vic Toews of many things, but not of lacking a social conscience, different as it might be from Ms. Larson’s.

Muzzling your opponents is not the road to enlightenment, and good manners are essential to the democratic process.