Canadian offshoot of U.S. libertarian campus group says it provides needed counterpoint to liberal bias | CBC News - Raffy Boudjikanian:
May 22, 2018 - "Some U.S. academics are warning their Canadian counterparts to be wary of a U.S. libertarian group that has recently set up a chapter on the campus of Simon Fraser University, but its proponents say it provides a much-needed counterpoint to the increasingly liberal bias of academia.
"Turning Point USA describes itself as a 'student movement for free markets and limited government' whose mission it is to educate students through 'non-partisan debate, dialogue, and discussion.'
"But it has courted controversy in the U.S. on account of some of its tactics. These include disseminating a "professor watch list" of university teachers whom the group considers to be spreading "leftist propaganda" in the classroom; staging provocative stunts mocking campus "safe spaces" and free speech zones; and hosting polarizing figures of the far right, such as Milo Yiannopoulos.
"'They will videotape you. They will perhaps have people in your classroom to take a class to ask certain questions, to get a video clip that they can send to ... their own news website,' said Matthew Boedy, assistant professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia....
"Those who started the Canadian offshoot say it takes no cues from its American counterpart. 'They have not told us what do. They just kind of let us do as we please,' said Wayd Miller, the national chair.... Miller said Turning Point Canada receives no money from its U.S. counterpart and is entirely self-funded.
"For now, Turning Point Canada is registered as a club at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., but Miller said the group has plans to expand to several Ontario campuses in the fall, including McMaster University in Hamilton and Ryerson University in Toronto.... Miller said each campus chapter of Turning Point Canada will be free to do as it pleases....
"Turning Point Canada appears to have a tangential connection to the federal Conservative Party by way of one of its co-founders, Charlie Beldman, who currently works as a member's assistant at the Ottawa office of Tory Leader Andrew Scheer.... When asked about Beldman's involvement, Miller said, "Charlie hasn't had anything to do with us since he started his job with the Conservatives [last summer]'....
"The president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers ... said the arrival of Turning Point in Canada caught his attention primarily because of the professor watch list in the U.S. 'That's an attack on academic freedom," he said of the watch list.... We don't have a problem with controversial speakers.... That's how the academy grows, with vigorous debate.'"
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/turning-point-canada-scheer-1.4658239
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May 22, 2018 - "Some U.S. academics are warning their Canadian counterparts to be wary of a U.S. libertarian group that has recently set up a chapter on the campus of Simon Fraser University, but its proponents say it provides a much-needed counterpoint to the increasingly liberal bias of academia.
"Turning Point USA describes itself as a 'student movement for free markets and limited government' whose mission it is to educate students through 'non-partisan debate, dialogue, and discussion.'
"But it has courted controversy in the U.S. on account of some of its tactics. These include disseminating a "professor watch list" of university teachers whom the group considers to be spreading "leftist propaganda" in the classroom; staging provocative stunts mocking campus "safe spaces" and free speech zones; and hosting polarizing figures of the far right, such as Milo Yiannopoulos.
"'They will videotape you. They will perhaps have people in your classroom to take a class to ask certain questions, to get a video clip that they can send to ... their own news website,' said Matthew Boedy, assistant professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia....
"Those who started the Canadian offshoot say it takes no cues from its American counterpart. 'They have not told us what do. They just kind of let us do as we please,' said Wayd Miller, the national chair.... Miller said Turning Point Canada receives no money from its U.S. counterpart and is entirely self-funded.
"For now, Turning Point Canada is registered as a club at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., but Miller said the group has plans to expand to several Ontario campuses in the fall, including McMaster University in Hamilton and Ryerson University in Toronto.... Miller said each campus chapter of Turning Point Canada will be free to do as it pleases....
"Turning Point Canada appears to have a tangential connection to the federal Conservative Party by way of one of its co-founders, Charlie Beldman, who currently works as a member's assistant at the Ottawa office of Tory Leader Andrew Scheer.... When asked about Beldman's involvement, Miller said, "Charlie hasn't had anything to do with us since he started his job with the Conservatives [last summer]'....
"The president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers ... said the arrival of Turning Point in Canada caught his attention primarily because of the professor watch list in the U.S. 'That's an attack on academic freedom," he said of the watch list.... We don't have a problem with controversial speakers.... That's how the academy grows, with vigorous debate.'"
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/turning-point-canada-scheer-1.4658239
'via Blog this'
