‘Campus Freedom Index’ gives free speech a failing grade at Canadian universities

Students discuss a controversial anti-abortion display at the University of Calgary in 2009. Universities were the birthplace of political correctness and now a right-leaning group says that on most Canadian campuses the trend has eroded free speech.

The Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms issued its 2012 Campus Freedom Index, which surveyed 35 Canadian universities and student unions.

It awarded only three A grades, compared with 28 Fs to 12 universities and 26 student unions for things like cancelling campus appearances of controversial speakers to trying to keep out pro-life groups and banning the expression "Israeli apartheid," the National Post reported.

"Everyone's forced to pay for these universities through tax dollars and the universities get the money in part by claiming to be these centres of free inquiry," justice centre president John Carpay, who co-authored the report, told the Post.

[ Related: Maclean's annual university rankings: Western schools on the rise ]

"It's fundamentally dishonest for the university to go to the government and ask for hundreds of millions of dollars on the pretext that they are a centre for free inquiry and then receive the money and turn around and censor unpopular opinions."

The report gives universities an average grade of C for having fairly good policies and principles regarding free speech but said they weren't very good at following them.

Student unions fared worse, scoring an average of D on both policies and actions.

"The index sheds light on the significant role that Canadian student unions play in damaging the free speech climate on campus," the report said.

The report focused on student unions' treatment of pro-life groups, noting 10 denied official certification to pro-life campus clubs based solely on the content of their message and not because of any misconduct, the Post reported.

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‘Campus Freedom Index’ gives free speech a failing grade at Canadian universities