The professors maintain, however, that their remarks about Peterson would never have become public had they not been recorded and given to the media by teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd. The reality is Dr. Petersons speech is targeted at trans people, says the Laurier PhD student. A The Last of Us els vada hamarosan vget r, a hetedik rsz azonban a mlt. Meanwhile, 20 Laurier faculty members released a open letter Monday supporting their colleagues caught on tape, according to the Toronto Star. (All three either declined to . (All three either declined to speak or did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.). But then added: Anyway, I assume she recorded them why not ask her for the recording? A second email, unprompted, came soon afterwards: Sorry, youre a pro I should have assumed that youve already heard that particular recording.. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Shepherd remembers he opened by acknowledging the situation and while he couldnt go into specifics because of confidentiality reasons, he told the students if they needed emotional or mental support, they should feel welcome to go to the campus wellness centre. In a telephone interview withMacleans, Laurier student Vivek Ramesh answers questions as voices in the backgroundwho are never namedcan be heard whispering responses to him. VILE: Paris Hilton says she has frozen 20 boys via IVF as she waits for a girl, Rosary-wearing Jill Biden promotes contraception to Kenyas young people, US govt data reveals shocking miscarriage, still birth rates after COVID jab compared to flu vaccine, Canadian pastor forcibly removed from drag queen story time for kids vows to keep protesting, Epstein-linked Clinton aides suspicious death ruled suicide despite being tied to tree, shot in chest, Shepherds main interrogators and accusers - left, prof. Nathan Rambukkana and right, prof. Herbert Pimlott, WLU Laurier president Deborah MacLatchey announced Monday that a report by independent investigator and lawyer Robert Centa found no student filed a complaint against Shepherd for showing a video clip about gender neutral pronouns, the Toronto, Shepherd, 23, was reduced to tears in a private meeting with her supervising professor Nathan Rambukkana and two others when they berated her for airing without commentary a clip of a debate on TVOs, Centas findings come as a relief to Shepherd, she told the, Meanwhile, 20 Laurier faculty members released a open letter Monday supporting their colleagues caught on tape, according to the Toronto, Ms. On Nov. 1, just as she does before most of her tutorials, Shepherd called her boyfriend in Vancouver to discuss her idea for class that day. She is teaching assistant for a class called Canadian Communication in Context. A few weeks ago, as part of a lecture on gendered language, Shepherd showed a 5 minute clip of a debate between Nicholas Matte, a professor of Transgender Studies, and University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson. She walked 30 minutes with heavy bags full of bottles just to make sure she could recycle them properly., At one point, Ghodsi threw out the suggestion that, in the interest of saving time and getting to hang out a bit more togetherand just this oncethey throw everything in the garbage. All times AEDT (GMT +11). Trans people are also 14 times more likely to have thoughts of suicide. Then in September 2017, mass protests erupted on the University of California, Berkeley when former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos spoke on campus, albeit only a few words before he was reportedly whisked away to safety by police. Grammatically speaking, that means students coming to the Rainbow Centre will chat with them. Who did I target?, How? Rambukkana said there were concerns about the content of her tutorial. Peterson, one of the debaters, is a tenured professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. Don't have an account? To me theyre an attempt to control language in a direction that isnt happening organicallybut by force, Peterson continues. Critics have warned that under Bill C-16, Canadians who deny gender theory could be charged with hate crimes, fined, jailed, and compelled to undergo anti-bias training. Therefore, they argue, should the court find Peterson suffered damages or injuries, those would be attributable to Shepherd and her publication and dissemination of the recording.. Showing the video created a toxic climate for some of the students, he said. Shepherd tells them they should have. Robitaille was part of the team that successfully defended former CBC personality Jian Ghomeshi in his sexual assault trial. They talk about the speaker list for the rally, featuring themselves and a local Conservative MPP. In November 2017, the two men, accompanied by Adria Joel, then the universitys manager of gendered and sexual violence prevention, grilled Shepherd about her decision to play part of a government-funded television program featuring a debate with Peterson to students. Front Royal, VA 22630, 157 Catharine St N, Unit 2 Rumbakkana told Shepherd she had created a toxic climate and an unsafe learning environment. He compared Shepherds decision to play a debate involving Peterson to neutrally playing a speech from Hitler or Milo Yiannopoulos.. People are forced to see theres another side to this issue, Finlay says. Some days thats harassment. Really?, Its not just telling them, say Rambukkana. Laurier TAs mostly had autonomy in deciding lesson plans to make things interesting. At least, thats my opinion. Adria mobile homes are manufactured in accordance with European standards EN 1647, EN 1949, EN 721 and International Quality Standards ISO 9001. Meanwhile, a crowd starts to grow a short walk away by Veterans Green Park, across the street from Lauriers main campus entrance in Waterloo, Ont. All Rights Reserved. With the stunning revelation that there never were student complainants against teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd not even one the reputation of Wilfrid Laurier University should hit rock bottom.. She's been praised as a "free-speech hero" who stood up to "PC authoritarian sociopaths." She's also been called an "alt-right heroine" who created a toxic, perhaps even violent, classroom climate.. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. During the disciplinary interview, which Shepherd secretly taped, the professors likened an objective presentation of the Peterson debate to objectively presenting a speech by Adolf Hitler. One? With these young students struggling to figure out how theyre experiencing gender, to be told in a classroom that thats not valid has a very deep impact because its an issue that strikes close to home for these people., And even if Shepherd tried to remain neutral in the classroom, Finlay challenges the idea of neutrality in this case, saying its wrong that these are issues of debate and trans students identities or experiences are up for conversationin the sense that their reality is up for conversation., Hewson talks about being confronted in school hallways by people I barely know asking me to justify myself and my positions. By speaking with media, Finlay and Hewson have become the public faces for the Laurier trans community. The professor was fired, in part for interfering with media, but also for encouraging physical intimidation of a student. The National Post reports Shepherd's supervising professor Nathan Rambukkana, professor Herbert Pimlott, and Adria Joel, manager of Gendered Violence Prevention and Support at Laurier, can be heard in the clip berating Shepherd for her decision to present the Peterson debate video without condemning Peterson's perspective. I could see that this sort of thing was inevitable, but also built right into the legislation. They say they didnt, due to lack of time. This is a case where firing someone might seem to be an easy answer, but what has happened at Laurier in this controversy has exposed more fundamental [issues] at the institution which need to be addressed.. He says hes afraid to be out there holding this sign and that his own queer and trans community will be angry at him when they see pictures of him at the rally. Shepherd addresses the crowd during the rally, November 24, 2017. But his small mistake has now resulted in constant death threats, threats of violence and his name being dragged through the mud, says Jonathan Finn, the former chairof the department of communication studiesat Laurier. Shepherd recorded her meeting with Rambukkana, without his knowledge. Several faculty members and students reached out and asked to comment via questions over email and under the condition of anonymityboth requests were denied and interviews never took place.). Like all the other episodes, this episode was also a great watch. Its not like Im saying Down with trans! Im not saying that. All the while, Shepherd is coordinating an Uber ride to Toronto in mere minutes so she can appear that evening on CBCsThe National. Husband of Helen Wilhoyte. There was no TV in the Shepherd home growing up. Youve silenced them because theyre now not willing to say what they wanted to say., Jordan Peterson tweeted his support for the student. He was making it so that we could not actually talk about what was going on., "When asked via email if he would like to comment on the record about his appearance in class that day, Urquhart declined. South of the border, amid racial tensions on the University of Missouri campus two years ago, both the schools president and chancellor resigned. Her class was talking about pronouns, gendered language and using they as a singular. As faculty picked sides, Shepherd was readying herself to face her students for the first time since she went publicand she was hoping to open up the class with a talk about, well, everything that was going on. She spoke with a far-right news outlet. Lindsay Shepherd is a graduate student and a teaching assistant at the university in Ontario, Canada. Before she showed anything, she stated: Im just going to show this for the purposes of discussion. If theres something she doesnt believe in, she wont do it no matter what the cost.. We werent sure what was going to happen.. Shepherd agreed, and was greeted at the meeting by Rambukkana, Pimlott and Adria Joel, the acting manager for gendered violence prevention and support at Laurier. With minutes until its time to leave the restaurant for the rally, Shepherd rehearses her opening line: I never thought we would get to a point in society where showing a clip fromThe Agenda with Steve Paikinin a classroom would end up as an international news story and scandal.. Its not like they can skew what I said. When the line of fans comes to an end, Shepherd is ready to go. Shepherds supervisor, Nathan Rambukkana, asked if she could come in for a meeting the next day at 2:30pm in his office where the head of her program, Herbert Pimlott, and someone for the diversity and equity office who would also be in attendance. FBI Director Christopher Wray has revealed where his agency believes the Covid-19 pandemic most likely originated. He later elaborates: This is like neutrally playing a speech like Hitler or Milo Yiannopoulos of Gamergate., Whats kind of funny is that I disagree with Jordan Peterson, Shepherd weeps. One assistant professor of mass media went as far to tell the reporter he wasnt allowed take any footage, tried try to grab his camera andwhen unsuccessfulshouted for anyone to provide muscle to help get him out of there. I dont think he was intending to be malicious. But thats taking sides, Shepherd argues. Leibold was one of the four. Join the conversation, you are commenting as. I should have seen how meeting with a panel of three people would be an intimidating situation and not invite a productive discussion, he said. Bill C-16, which became law in June 2017, added gender expression and gender identity to Canadas Human Rights Code and to the Criminal Codes hate crime section. And the National Posts Christie Blatchford has critiqued Lauriers 13-member task force on free expression, another response by the university to the Shepherd debacle, as stacked with faculty who put political correctness ahead of free debate. At a university all perspectives are valid, she exclaims. Its being used to justify a lot of hate thats directed towards trans people., Kira Williams experiences something transphobic every day. 1997-2023 LifeSiteNews.com. Some of the comments made for an interesting discussion, but mostly students used it as an excuse to make fun of trans identities., As for Shepherd, she called her boyfriend to say she thought everything went well and that the students were really engaged. 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