Posts tagged with pridgen.

Free speech just got freer

Joey Coleman, October 15, 2010 at 2:28 PM

In a precedent-setting case involving brothers who criticized a prof on Facebook, an Alberta judge ruled this week that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies at the University of Calgary in matters of student discipline. This could mean significant changes to the way universities deal with students across the country.

The ruling stems from an appeal by two University of Calgary students who were placed on probation by the university for their Facebook postings.

The case opens the door for students on campuses to have at least some protection through Charter rights. In light of recent actions by universities to clamp down on student activities both on-campus and online, the ruling could not come soon enough.

Universities have been using their "Charter-free" status to intimidate and punish their students in an manner that raises the question: What rights do students have?

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Jo'Anne Strekaf answered the question.

The students, identical twins Steven and Keith Pridgen, each wrote one post on a Facebook group called "I No Longer Fear Hell, I Took a Course with Aruna Mitra," which was created by a fellow student in the second-year Law and Society course at the university.

That fall, according to court documents, Steven Pridgen wrote on the group's wall  "Some how I think she just got lazy and gave everybody a 65....that's what I got. Does anybody know how to apply to have it remarked?"

It was a statement Steven would eventually be punished for.

The group did not attract the attention of university authorities until nearly a year later, when, in August, 2008, Keith wrote:

"Hey fellow LWSO. homees .. So I am quite sure Mitra is NO LONGER TEACHING ANY COURSES WITH THE U OF C !!!!! Remember when she told us she was a long-term professor? Well actually she was only sessional and picked up our class at the last moment because another prof wasn't able to do it ... lucky us. Well anyways I think we should all congratulate ourselves for leaving a Mitra-free legacy for future L.S.W.O. students!"

Professor Mitra filed a complaint about the Facebook group with Professor Wisdom Tettey, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Culture, on Sept. 4, 2008. The Dean quickly assembled a meeting with the 10 students who posted to the group.

Following the meeting, the 10 students were all found guilty of committing non-academic misconduct and ordered to apologize for posting to the Facebook group.

The university warned that failure to comply with the order "may result in further sanctions including, but not limited to, suspension or expulsion."

Both twins were placed on probation and they decided to appeal the ruling finding them guilty of misconduct.

Both students got legal counsel and advised the University of Calgary they wished to appeal to the University's Board of Governors, after an earlier appeal upheld their convictions.  The University denied them the ability to appeal, stating that probation for non-academic misconduct cannot be appealed to the Board.

In short, the University of Calgary took the idea that universities are exempt from the Charter to its extreme. By not granting the students the ability to appeal to the Board of Governors, the university opened the door for their successful appeal to the courts and have brought the Charter into effect at Canadian universities.

As Justice Strekaf wrote, "the University is not a Charter free zone. The Charter does apply in
respect of the disciplinary proceedings taken by the University."

Universities can no longer impose student punishments willy-nilly without due process and respect for Charter rights.

"Asn educational institution, the University should expect and encourage frank and critical discussion regarding the teaching ability of professors amongst students, even in instances where the comments exchanged are unfavourablele," she wrote.

Justice Strekaf's words should hang over the desk of every university administrator.

Tagged with speech, rights, free, charter, strekaf, alberta, ruling, calgary, pridgen | Comments (15) |