Rancour of free speech debate led gender-diverse people to feel unsafe, advocates say

A result of sometimes heated recent debates over free speech on campus, some staff and students atLaurierUniversity are saying they're increasingly being harassed.

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Greg Bird, an assistant professor, is asking theschool to establish measures to protect staff and students who've become the subject of these 'attacks'. He started an onlinepetition, demanding that Lauriermake a public statement denouncing trans-phobic actions.

So far,it has garnerednearly 400 signatures.

"A lot of people are being attacked through phone calls...workemailsand much more on our campus by some pretty violent and extreme people out there," said Bird.

In a conversation with Craig Norris on The Morning Edition, Toby Finlay, a non-binary and transstudent at Lauriersaid student centres that act as 'safer spaces' are being compromised.

"The Rainbow Centre, Centre for Women and TransPeople, are being increasingly targetedor entered into by folks who are bringing us threatening messages," said Finlay.

Finlay saidthe petition has been brought to Deborah MacLatchy, president of the university.However, they still feel she "hasn't responded to the petition in any meaningful way."

"The response has been, 'safety precautions are in place,' and the reality is that's not true for transand non-binary folks," Finlay said.

"We have a president at Laurier who's coming out and speaking on one side in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression very explicitly, but won't even name the experiences of trans and non-binary people."

In an interview request with theCBC,Laurier'sspokesperson, Kevin Crowley, said the university istaking "these concerns very seriously."

He said the university's student affairs office and human resources havebeen "coordinating supports" for students, faculty and staff employees.

"We have policies and procedures in place to address harassment and discrimination," Crowley said."Additional security measures and workplace accommodation have also been implemented in the wake of recent media reports."

Bird said the police and administration are currently investigating some of these harassment cases.