Ep. 33 Bruce Pardy on Campus Freedom

Our guest law professor Bruce Pardy discusses his article "Public Universities, Speech Policies, and the Law: Fourteen Maxims." He defines the issues and clears up some common misconceptions about free speech and freedom in general for academics, administrators and students on campuses in Canada.

Queen's University: Bruce Pardy, Professor

Bruce Pardy in SSRN, Aug 20, 2020: Public Universities, Speech Policies, and the Law: Fourteen Maxims

Jordan Peterson in Thinkspot, Aug 28, 2019: The Queens University Talk

Below are the Fourteen Maxims copied from Pardy's article:

1. ‘‘Freedom of expression” and ‘‘academic freedom” are distinct legal ideas
2. Freedom of expression is a negative right, whereas academic freedom is both negative and positive
3. Universities have no legal rationale to restrict the content of speech of its faculty or students, who are already restrained by the law
4. No university policy on the content of speech is necessary for the university to impose no restrictions on the content of speech
5. Simple policies protect free speech
6. Wordy policies create the potential to limit speech
7. Universities require ‘‘time, place, and manner” rules to protect expression
8. Universities have no justification for imposing security fees on any speaker or lecture
9. Government directives can be simple and have the force of law
10. Government directives that require each university to develop its own policy on free speech invite policies that restrict the content of speech
11. There is no right without a remedy
12. Jurisprudence on the application of the Charter to speech issues at public universities is a dog’s breakfast.
13. For most university speech issues, the Charter is a red herring
14. Some free speech disputes are about unequal application of rules rather than ‘‘freedom of expression” itself

Theme Music "Carpay Diem" by Dave Stevens