The Concordia administration has answered back with their side of the whole Ehud Barak mess:
Let’s be fair and truthful. We have not compromised freedom of speech by our decision regarding Mr. Barak. We simply do not have the facilities that allow us to hold this particular event in a safe environment without disrupting the normal academic activities on-campus or those of our neighbors whom we consider an important part of our community. Nevertheless, freedom of speech remains alive at Concordia University as does our responsibility for the security of the community.
To support that claim, they point to a number of “controversial Jewish and Arab speakers” who have been hosted on campus.
Sadly, they have once again missed the point. It’s not enough to claim that a few controversial speakers equals freedom of speech. True freedom doesn’t exist selectively. Hosting speakers who the rioters find “acceptable” and calling that freedom is, de facto, allowing the rioters to dictate what speech is allowed and what speech is not allowed.
Concordia made a bad choice, and now they’re trying to defend it with faulty logic.
Sari,
Sorry… but you’re just plain wrong about the whole Barak fiasco. The admin made all the right decisions and this is now a dead issue.
Also, this isn’t new, the admin released this statement last week.
“Just plain wrong”? Sorry you feel that way. I happen to think you’re wrong. Maybe you should consider that people with differing opinions aren’t necessarily “wrong” just because they disagree with you.
Steven,
Whoever is right or wrong,
just add this latest issue to the scorecard of Jews thinking/assuming that Canada is ‘home’ and thinking they deserve equal rights.
Glad to see you’re still keeping your eye on Concordia, Segacs.
They’re shooting themselves in the foot in the long run, if that’s any comfort. It’s not only the total lack of respect for free speech, it’s the total willingness to cave in to the radicals, both now and in the past.
Concordia has already destroyed its reputation outside Canada, even in the US. It’s thought of as “that political university” and people generally believe that degrees from there are meaningless and based in student politics rather than academics(I did some grad school research last year and was warned off of Concordia for these reasons by people who otherwise have no interest in either Canadian or Middle Eastern politics).
Seems like that’s not enough, and now the administration wants to destroy Concordia’s reputation in Canada, too.
Alums like Segacs, who got into the workforce before the scandals, are going to end up being the lucky ones.
Tali’s point should be taken very seriously.
There is only one university in Quebec with a strong reputation in the US — McGill. Concordia was pretty much a blank slate until the last couple of years, but now it has some partial recognition as “the university with the crazy anti-Israel rioters”. Anyone with a stake in Concordia’s reputation should be concerned about where it’s headed.
Steven is a self-hating Jew