A U of T pro-life group has accused the university of suppressing freedom of expression after being told to change the location of a controversial abortion display.
Kathy Matusiak, president of U of T Students For Life, said the university’s move was “analogous to telling black people they can ride the bus at the back.”
In previous years, UTSFL had set up the graphic photos on the Sidney Smith patio in a U-shape facing north. This year, however, the group was asked by the administration to move the display so that it faced west, thus putting the opening of the display three metres from the wall of the Sidney Smith building.
“Such a layout makes our exhibit ineffective because our group’s message is an unpopular one that our target audience won’t go out of its way to receive,” Matusiak said.
UTSFL brought the controversial display of images from the Genocide Awareness Project to the St. George campus last Thursday. In the end, the group set up its presentation on public property outside Robarts Library.
Jim Delaney, the associate director and senior policy advisor at Student Affairs, said the administration only made the request because students complained last year.
“Individuals were confronted by the images without making a conscious decision to view the materials,” he said.
The administration had reached an agreement with the UTSFL several weeks ago, said Delaney. The group was offered a classroom as an alternative but they had in the end decided on the Sidney Smith patio.
GAP’s posters featured photos of aborted fetuses side by side with images of victims of the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides and of the Holocaust.
The juxtaposition is meant to “visually compare abortion to historically recognized atrocities,” said Matusiak.
The public display of GAP’s photographs has caused strong reactions from students since it took to the streets on Thursday afternoon.
Noam Gilboord, president of Hillel at U of T, called the images an “inappropriate use of historical precedence.”
“You’re equating state-sponsored genocide with something that is right now the individual choice of each woman to do or not to do,” he said.
Matusiak, however, was unperturbed by criticisms of the exhibit.
“Since our message is truth, and we provide good reasons for it, we are confident it will be accepted in the long term,” she said. “We want to turn [people] off abortion. These pictures do that for people who have functioning consciences.”
But Delaney of Student Affairs stood firm on his position.
“What’s important for us is that we acknowledge their right to free speech while also respecting the rights of others to not view their material,” he said.
