Freedom of expression is vital to a healthy learning environment: every member of an academic community should therefore have access to a diversity of opinions on a wide variety of topics, and this also requires that they are free to express a wide variety of opinions. But this right for individuals to express themselves freely needs to be balanced with the right individuals have to a safe learning environment. Simply put, freedom of expression does not mean that all ideas are equally harmless. On the contrary, as the graphic below shows (Andrey, 2023), the safety and wellbeing of many Canadians is under threat now more than ever.
Note: From Survey of online harms in Canada by Sam Andrey, 2023 (https://dais.ca/reports/survey-of-online-harms-in-canada/). Copyright 2023 by Toronto Metropolitan University. Used with permission.
This recent and alarming rise of hate speech and misinformation suggests that all too often, too many individuals fail to exercise free speech responsibly (Andrey, 2023). Although it is not appropriate for one person or group of people to decide what ideas are acceptable and what ideas are off limits for everyone else, there are in fact better and worse opinions: many ideas can contribute positively to academic discourse and the pursuit of new knowledge, but some ideas are far more likely to damage others (Journal Editors and Authors Group, 2003; Kourany, 2016, p. 787). To point to the damaging language and ideas represented in the above infographic, these examples fall under the legal category of hate speech when they are motivated by an intention to harm marginalized communities (Martin, 2020, p. 35; Ndegwa and McDonald, 2023)
Instead of seeking out ways to harm others, we all have a responsibility to search for and argue for the best ideas we can think of, which means that we need to make a good faith effort to understand the impact of our ideas on other people. The resources that follow the references below are intended to support you in exercising your academic rights responsibly.
References
Andrey, S. (2023). Survey of online harms in Canada. https://dais.ca/reports/survey-of-online-harms-in-canada/
Journal Editors and Authors Group. (2003). Uncensored exchange of scientific results. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 100(4), 1464. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0630491100
Kourany, J. (2016). Should some knowledge be forbidden? The case of cognitive differences research. Philosophy of Science. 83(5), 779-790. https://doi.org/10.1086/687863
Martin, J. (2020). Eliminate hate: Hate crimes and hate speech in Canada. The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare, 3(1), 33-46. https://doi.org/10.2810/jicw.v3i1.2361
Ndegwa, A. & McDonald, S. (2023). Hate crimes in Canada. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rd16-rr16/p1.html