Mind you, Shepherd wasn't playing a clip of a Peterson lecture, but rather of him participating in a panel discussion on the TVOntario public affairs show The Agenda with Steve Paikin. For this she was summoned to a Kafkaesque tribunal which Shepherd had the foresight to record. A subsequent investigation by Laurier not only cleared Shepherd of any wrongdoing but revealed there was no actual complaint against her. It was made out of whole cloth.
In the months following the incident, Shepherd has been making appearances at universities discussing the state of free speech and open inquiry on campuses in North America. Today, she made her way to none other than Harvard University in the People's Republic of Cambridge. Sponsored by Harvard College's Open Campus Initiative, the theme of Shepherd's talk was "Censorship and The Spirit of Debate on Campus."
I am struck by Shepherd's lack of pretentiousness. Notwithstanding her newfound notoriety, she doesn't pretend to be an expert about anything. Shepherd spoke of reading post-modernist texts and not getting anything from them chiding the "obscure language" of the texts arguing they are written in such a way to make it "deliberately not understood." This was music to my ears. That was precisely my reaction to much of the literature I read while I was in university more than two decades ago. I'm sure many a university student between now and then has experienced the same reaction.
Later in her talk she said, "I express my views as clearly as I can as muddled as they are." Shepherd conceded that perhaps 20 years from now she might come to see she was entirely wrong in her views about transgendered pronouns and conclude "how unprogressive I was" (although she said this with more than a hint of sarcasm). Nevertheless, Shepherd expressed concern about how elementary school children in Canada were being introduced to the so-called fluidity of gender identity including her two younger siblings. While elementary school boards think 9-year olds are old enough to understand the politics of gender identity, Wilfrid Laurier University doesn't think 18-year olds are old enough to hear Jordan Peterson's views on gender pronouns.
I asked Shepherd about her thoughts on Laurier's efforts to work on a Freedom of Expression statement. Shepherd told me that she initially welcomed the statement, but is skeptical because she is unsure how effective it will be so long as the gendered and sexual violence policy, which is mandated by the province of Ontario, remains in effect. She also expressed concern that such a statement could be watered down as it was at the University of British Columbia when a provision was included concerning how speech could affect a person's "wellness."
For all the hostility Shepherd has encountered from The Left, she considers herself "kind of a socialist." Privately, many liberals and leftists tell Shepherd they agree with her but implore her not to say anything about it. "That's a problem," she said, "This is exactly what needs to change."
There were about 25-30 people in attendance, a majority of them students. It amazes me how this generation views "freedom of speech" as a right-wing concept or an alt-right value. Of course, the Left is effectively allowing the Right to claim freedom of speech for itself. These are the sort of thoughts that could only be expressed by people who have no concept of what it is not to have freedom of speech. When we spoke one on one, I told Shepherd that in an authoritarian or totalitarian country we could be arrested for having our meeting. Shepherd agreed and said people of her generation had no such understanding of what authoritarianism or totalitarianism is.
Shepherd is well known for her toque. I brought along mine and she agreed to posing with a dueling toques theme. I appreciate her humoring me.
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