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The Daily Signal

Defend Free Speech, Urges Author Who Faced Repercussions for Teaching College Students About Pronouns

The Daily Signal

The Daily Signal

News, Daily News, Politics, Government

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Canadian author and columnist Lindsay Shepherd's message to Americans is simple: Defend free speech or risk losing it. In 2017, Shepherd, then a teaching assistant at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, played for her class a series of clips in which psychologist and author Jordan Peterson talked about personal pronouns and transgenderism.  Afterward, Shepherd was called into a meeting with her supervisor and a representative from the college's Diversity and Equity Office. She was accused of creating a toxic environment for students and threatened with punishment if she did something similar again.  Shepherd, our guest today on "The Daily Signal Podcast," recorded the meeting to protect herself and later leaked it to the media.  “I wanted people in Canada and abroad internationally to know what's happening inside our universities," Shepherd says. "I saw it as a bigger issue than just me having an encounter in this disciplinary meeting." Shepherd became an activist dedicated to free speech and academic freedom. Her book, called “Diversity and Exclusion: Confronting the Campus Free Speech Crisis,” recounts her experience and offers advice on how to protect free expression.  “Don't try to cave into leftist ideas just to try to prove to them that you're a good person." she says. "You don't need to prove anything to them, because they're always not going to like you." Also on today’s show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo, which is raising money for Georgia small businesses affected by Major League Baseball’s decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Daily Signal Podcast for Monday, May 17th.

0:10.0

I'm Virginia Allen.

0:11.2

And I'm Doug Blair.

0:12.8

On today's show, I talk with Lindsay Sheppard about her experience at a Canadian University

0:17.4

where she was punished for showing a Jordan Peterson video on transgenderism to the class

0:21.5

she was TAing and how free expression is under fire in North America.

0:26.0

We also read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about how the crowd

0:31.1

funding website gives them go.

0:33.7

Is raising money for Georgia Small Businesses, affected by the MLB's All-Star Game move

0:39.3

from Atlanta?

0:40.8

Before we get to today's show, Virginia and I want to tell you about another great heritage

0:44.7

foundation podcast called Heritage Explains.

0:47.8

Heritage Explains is a weekly podcast that breaks down all the policy issues we hear about

0:53.0

in the news at a 101 level.

0:55.7

This Michelle Cordero and Tim Desher mix in news clips and music to tell a story, but

1:01.8

also bring on heritage experts to help break down complex issues.

1:06.6

Heritage Explains offers quick 10 to 15 minute explainers that bring you up to speed in an

1:11.2

entertaining way.

1:12.6

You can find them on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:17.4

We even put the full episode on YouTube.

1:19.2

Now stay tuned for today's show, coming up next.

1:25.7

Like I said, it was in the spirit of debate.

...

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