http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...post-1.4364586
A Dalhousie University student is facing disciplinary action over a post she made to Facebook in the summer about Canada 150 celebrations.
Masuma Khan said she was given the option to undergo counselling and write a reflective essay after the Halifax-based school conducted an investigation into a complaint about her online comments, but she says she refused.
"It was really offensive, to be honest, for the university to tell me that they're going to teach me how to talk about racism in a more collaborative way, when racism is very harsh … there's no nice way to talk about it," the 22-year-old Muslim woman said.
"We're going to do everything we can to let Dalhousie know that this is not OK and it's not appropriate."
Earlier this year, Khan, who is a vice-president of the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU), put forward a motion that the group not participate in Canada 150 celebrations. The executive passed her motion, saying it wouldn't hold or endorse Canada Day events on campus, describing this year's events as an act of colonialism.
The student union faced a serious backlash over the decision and Khan took to social media in response, writing that "white fragility can kiss my ass. Your white tears aren't sacred, this land is."
The Facebook post has since been deleted.
It prompted graduate student Michael Smith to write a scathing op-ed piece in the National Post, which argued that DSU was censoring anyone opposed to its decision.
It has been reported that Smith was the one who filed the complaint against Khan.
Khan said she doesn't regret the online post, but recognizes that it may have hurt some people. That wasn't her intention, she said; she was simply trying to reflect her own experiences dealing with racism.
Dalhousie's vice-provost of student affairs, Arig al Shaibah, found there was enough of a basis to the complaint to conduct an investigation, according to Khan's lawyer, Nasha Nijhawan, who has taken on the case pro-bono.
"It was the university's position that the complaint was founded and that Masuma's Facebook post constituted personal harassment under their policy, and that she should have known that her post would have been demeaning to people who identify as white," Nijhawan said.
The university moved to a formal discipline process after Khan rejected their informal resolution, Nijhawan said.
Dalhousie student faces disciplinary action over Canada 150 post
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