BCCLA condemns UBC Profs’ perverse interpretation of University Act

April 16, 2025

(Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, BC) – Today, the BC Civil Liberties Assocation (BCCLA) is releasing a statement from Executive Director, Liza Hughes, that condemns a recent lawsuit brought by UBC professors and one former graduate student.

Universities are not meant to be sanitized from political thought or discourse. This recent lawsuit in the name of free expression is a perverse interpretation of the prohibition of political activity under the University Act that cannot be justified from a civil liberties lens.

Academic freedom includes the rights of university groups to speak out about important social issues including Indigenous Peoples’ inherent rights, issues of power and oppression, and genocide. Civil liberties include the rights of diverse voices to be heard and protected through ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) competency in hired staff.

BCCLA is deeply disturbed to see a past member of our Board of Directors, Andrew Irvine, taking a position that is so deeply antithetical to civil liberties and values of liberty, equality, and justice.

Civil liberties are not a commodity to be horded by the privileged few. Freedom cannot exist alongside oppression. At a time when equality rights and freedom of expression for equity-denied groups are increasingly under attack, BCCLA continues to champion an expansive interpretation of civil liberties that includes the rights of all.

NT5