A court action was filed against the University of Lethbridge challenging the institution’s decision to cancel an event where former Mount Royal University professor, Dr. Frances Widdowson, was scheduled to speak.
She planned to talk about “how woke-ism threatens academic freedom” and attempted to speak on campus after the cancellation in February — she was met by opposition and hundreds of protesters.
BACKGROUND: ‘She is not welcome on our campus’: hundreds rally against controversial speaker at U of L
The legal action was filed on behalf of Widdowson, Dr. Paul Viminitz — who invited her to speak — and student Jonah Pickle.
The filing claims the cancellation violated the three’s freedom of expression and assembly and seeks and injunction to allow the event to proceed on campus. It also calls for a declaration from the university that it breached the applicants’ freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly guaranteed under the Charter.
Though the university did not permit Widdowson to speak publicly, she did give a guest lecture to a philosophy class on Jan. 31 titled “Should Universities ‘Foster Respect’ for Indigenous Ways of thinking.” During the lecture, the title was written on the whiteboard with “NO!” underlined beneath it.
“My experience at the University of Lethbridge is a textbook case of how ‘woke-ism’ is threatening academic freedom and freedom of expression on university campuses,” Widdowson said about the court action. “Instead of encouraging faculty and students to engage with my ideas in order to reach a better understanding of totalitarian identity politics’ impact on the academy, the University of Lethbridge created an ‘unsafe space’ for critical thinking and open inquiry. This means that the development of knowledge and theoretical understanding is being compromised at this academic institution.”
The University of Lethbridge said it will not comment at this time.