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Bronwyn Eyre: How USask tried to ruin a man's career for questioning critical race theory

Tim Haggstrom has misconduct on his student record for defending the notion of treating people equally. He's still trying to clear his name

This legal saga, which embroiled a university bureaucracy and now hangs on a decision in court, is one that should serve as a lesson — and a warning — to all Canadians interested in free speech. It’s the story of one student, but it could be any student at any North American university. Tim Haggstrom could be your son. His experience is a cautionary tale to anyone who challenges the system, whose underlying message is very clear: Don’t try.

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In the fall of 2023, Haggstrom, then a law student, was formally censured by the University of Saskatchewan for “harassment,” after he challenged critical race theory in open letters to faculty and peers. He appealed the administrative decision and lost. He then filed a judicial review and constitutional challenge with the Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench. In May, the court heard the university’s motion to dismiss his case. A decision will be released any day.

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Haggstrom was in his third and final year when, following an academic exchange, he returned to the University of Saskatchewan to hear rumblings of a great controversy. Law students had learned that up to one-third of their peers were being allotted extra time on exams.

The university’s official position, including when I attended back in the 1990s, has always been that extra time levels the playing field. Keep in mind, however, that many law exams account for 100 per cent of a student’s grade. Timing, and properly managing it, is critical to this high-pressure, competitive exercise.

In this case, concerned students asked the Law Students’ Association (LSA) to broach the issue. There was no........

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