Christianity is too Dangerous for Canadian Campuses

In July 2019, Rafael Zaki was expelled from the Max Rady College of Medicine in Manitoba for refusing to change views he expressed about gun ownership and abortion on his personal Facebook page. According to the university, these posts constituted non-academic misconduct. Zaki, a Coptic Christian with strong pro-life views, emigrated from Egypt with his family to escape religious persecution. The students who complained about Zaki did so anonymously and said that he had made them feel “unsafe” on campus. Given the choice between sanctimonious tattle-tales and religious-minority refugees, the latter group likely has a better handle on how being unsafe truly feels. Nonetheless, the university encouraged Zaki to write apology notes without allowing him to read the complaints himself. He was led to believe that this had resolved the matter. The university subsequently launched a formal investigation without Zaki’s knowledge, depriving him of the information necessary to defend himself. The University Discipline Committee, headed by Dr. Ira Ripstein, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Medical Education, found that Zaki had committed non-academic misconduct because his behavior was “misogynistic and hostile towards women” and had “a negative impact on the learning and work environment” at the university. No evidence for these claims was provided, beyond the complaints which Zaki was prevented from seeing. To satisfy the professional standards of the University Discipline Committee, Zaki would have had to change his beliefs to align with those of his pro-choice classmates. -- More...