Newsletter

April 2002

Update on Osgoode Hall Law School’s Investigation of Hatemongering

Clive Seligman

Readers may recall that last
Spring the National Post(May 1, 2001) reported that Osgoode Hall
Law School of York University was investigating one of its students for
allegedly engaging in hatemongering. The student in question had written
an article in Obiter Dicta (March 12, 2001), an Osgoode Hall publication,
that was critical of aspects of life in an Islamic state. Another student
had complained about the article.

According to the National
Post story, York University apologized for the article and President
Marsden wrote to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a lobby group
based in Washington, D.C., to “inform them proceedings against the student
have begun.”

SAFS immediately wrote to
Dean Peter Hogg and President Lorna Marsden to protest that their actions
violated the student’s academic freedom and asked them to stop the investigation.
In his response to SAFS, Dean Hogg said that Osgoode Hall was obligated
to investigate the complaint.

I’m happy to report that
Dean Peter Hogg has informed me that the complaint against the student
has been withdrawn and that the student is still enroled in the Law School.

The complete correspondence
between SAFS and Osgoode Hall was printed in the SAFS Newsletter(September,
2001) and is on our webpage. A slightly shortened version of our letter
to President Marsden and Dean Hogg was published in the National Post
on May 3, 2001.