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IdeoFunk, it all depends are whether you view the university system as a bastion of free expression, or not. The protesters are of course, free to protest in a peaceful assembly. That is not the issue.
The problem, as the letter from the Canadian Association of University Teachers spoke to, is that a member of university administration and the university's student political wing, came out to denounce and threaten the ability of Ms. Coulter to broach any subject she chose. The University of Ottawa broke the thin veil of respectability that free thought provides.
The threat to use an abusive, and increasingly de-normalized, law may not much concern the opponents of Ms. Coulter. I'm no friend of hers either. Yet it was not long ago that the left and its associated crazies were sitting on the other side of the fence, making offensive speech against the status quo.
Just remember; any tool that can be used to quiet your enemies can be used to quiet you. Not too long ago, your views were the marginalized ones, and in the future they may be again.
The use of Section 13 was not a concern in Calgary, London because no one in the administration of those universities made any such threats. But it doesn't take a totalitarian university to make and fulfill such a threat; ANY citizen could become a complainant, with no risk to him or herself, with the full weight of the government's money and abusive powers, to sue Ms. Coulter for her speech.
If that doesn't doesn't seem like a threat to our right of freedom of expression, I'd be at a loss to point out any further examples. Telescreens everywhere, perhaps?
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Where there is doubt there is freedom.
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