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Sunday, June 01, 2008
Is this type of thinking soon to be at American universities?
Canadian students now face repression of their fundamental freedoms on their university campuses. After the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) passed a radical motion last weekend, many esteemed places of learning have been transformed into exclusivist regimes. University students across the country are now being forced to defend their constitutionally-recognized rights and freedoms.
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Last weekend, the York University Federation of Students (YFS, a CFS member) tabled a motion at the CFS annual meeting. The end result: the authorized restriction of pro-life student groups. Pursuant to York’s action, the CFS passed a motion condoning student unions (like York and Lakehead) that refuse access to resources and campus space to student groups that offer the pro-life perspective on abortion. Without student consultation, the CFS has committed to restricting pro-life groups and individuals on their respective campuses. The York situation continues to develop. It is yet unclear whether the Students for Bioethical Awareness club at York University, which addresses bioethical issues including abortion, will continue to exercise the same rights and privileges as other clubs.

Earlier this year, the Lakehead University Student Union (LUSU, a CFS member) resolved to withhold "any and all funds, space, resources and services within its control from any groups, either on or off campus... if that group holds any aim, principle, belief, goal, etc. that is anti-choice." Explicitly stated, any student that wishes to speak against abortion is labeled “anti-choice,” and will receive no support. This would also include clubs seeking status. It is this position that the CFS now officially endorses. The pro-life message is not only unwelcome on the university campus, but its marginalization is now sanctioned.

The time has come for Canadians to awaken to the reality of totalitarianism in our midst. Ironically, the CFS claims to represent students of differing ethnicities, creeds, ages, and sex; however, it has taken a stance contrary to tolerance and inclusivity. This recent decision demonstrates that the CFS has adopted a dogma of dictatorship. The Federation has employed rhetoric to defame pro-life students as “anti-choice,” and has made a sweeping motion at a time when students are not at school. This lack of transparency, and obvious restriction of the right to choose to be actively pro-life, is startling and unjust.

Also ironic is the setting of this situation. Universities are cherished institutions, our "marketplaces of ideas." After so much progress by the human community to recognize and celebrate human diversity, it is disturbing to acknowledge the prevalence of discrimination at our institutions of higher learning.

The truth about abortion is becoming clearer every day to the Canadian populace. Attempts to suppress free speech about abortion is evidence of desperation--the desperation of those unwilling to concede that abortion is not the only choice, or the best choice, for women. By creating barriers to pro-life students, women on university campuses are paternalistically refused their right to information. Yet we are hopeful and confident; hypocrisy is eventually revealed. The human spirit remains strong. At many points in human history the elite have systematically marginalized those who disagreed with them. This is a time not unlike those times. And in the end, the message of compassion and truth will set us free.

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Darius' book montage

The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Overcoming Sin and Temptation
According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
Disciplines of a Godly Man
Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem
When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Ourselves
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Respectable Sins
The Kite Runner
Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, ... anabaptist/anglican, metho
Show Them No Mercy
The Lord of the Rings
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
The Chronicles of Narnia
Les Misérables


Darius Teichroew's favorite books »