York University conflict courts Quebec-style backlash: Cohn | Toronto Star

Good piece by Martin Regg Cohen of The Star noting the risks of a backlash to reasonable accommodation when it fails the common sense test of “reasonable” – which York U Admin sophistry clearly did:

When the authorities align themselves with outliers who would superimpose their extreme religious views on other people’s entrenched legal rights — undermining the status of an accused in court or a female on campus — it fails the common sense smell test.

To this day, officials at York cling to their muddled thinking, rationalizing and over-intellectualizing their thought processes without thinking through the consequences. They not only let down their female students, they undermined public confidence, the sine qua non of non-discrimination.

They are their own worst enemies. By indulging tenuous claims on matters of religious faith, they undermine public faith in the ethic of tolerance.

York University conflict courts Quebec-style backlash: Cohn | Toronto Star.