A student at the University of Calgary says that having a differing opinion from a professor in class is usually not such a bad thing.In his classes, he observed, "If you are coming in with a differing opinion, you had better be prepared to defend it. And if you're not prepared to defend it, don't say it at all.""That's the policy of the University of Calgary from what I've experienced."The student in question, Michael Harris, is the Director of the student-run Every Citizen a King Society, an organization that focuses on free speech and works with other free speech organizations on campus.Harris also ran in last August's byelection for Battle River-Crowfoot.Michael himself explains more about his experience advocating for free speech and running in federal politics, all while being a student, check out the clip below...."When I ran this election and when I've been doing my stuff on campus, you're going to get people that are going to be disagreeing with you," Harris said. "And because of the toxic climate around politics right now, you're gonna get people throwing death threats that you're gonna have people threatening your life."Harris says the reason he wanted to run was because he "wanted to inspire people to see that you do have a voice." "Go out there and speak," he urges students. .As for outside of university classes, Harris says that's where you find a bit more protest against the idea of free speech. "Yeah, I've seen the worst of it though, I think the suppression of students' opinions comes outside of the classroom." "I think they're forced unfortunately or fortunately in this case be more cordial while they're in the classroom with a professor.""However, students have noted that outside of the classroom they can have their opinion suppressed," he states..To learn more about Canadian university students' experiences on campus, click here to watch the clip.
