Of course the KKK may be a poor example to highlight the point of “Where do you draw the line?”. What about abortion protests? Gun control/rights? Legalizing drugs? Anarchists? What about attending a parade honoring verteran’s? How about other intellectually “stimulating” events: an off-campus lecture, a concert, and art show? i understand the need for deferrals - personal reason, serious illness or death in the family for example - not for this nonsense.
There is also the fact that this is not just any protest. This is the Summit Of The Americas. Drum roll. This is where they plan what shape, if any, free trade will take in this hemisphere. And the public will have had absolutely zero say in the matter, considering that the texts of the agreement have never been debated in Parliament (a motion to have them read in the House was defeated by the government). Considering the crucial nature of the issue and the event in question, not to mention that demonstration will be the only way for the public to be represented in this issue, I submit that it’s not unreasonable to deem this event an extraordinary circumstance.
I’m a Concordia university alumnus.
Con U is routinely very flexible in terms of rescheduling exams for individual students. It’s always been part of the school’s founding philosophy, dating from when half of it (Sir George Willams) was based almost solely in night classes being offered to part-time students.
My friend John D. never wrote an exam with anyone in any of his classes. He always had extra time because of motor control problems, and a personal invigilator. It’s not really much of a problem.
Any student has always had the option of asking their teacher if they can get an exam deferred, and if their argument works, bingo they’re home free.
So all that’s really happening is that the administration has issued a blanket “this is a valid reason” ruling, so teachers can’t make students jump through hoops.
Oh, one pet peeve of mine. In Canada there is a big difference between a ‘college’ and a ‘university’.
A university is where you go for a BA, BSc, MA, MSc,PhD, etc…
A college is a technical school (airplane maintenance, police training), or (in Quebec only) offers pre-university programs for students who finish high school at grade 11.