That notion was taken up by a pair of students last fall, and the result is U of G's 1999 Intellectual Freedom Forum.

  Throughout 1999, the student-led initiative will encourage exploration of academic and intellectual freedom issues in and out of the classroom. With the support of faculty and staff, organizers hope to focus fresh discussions on these freedoms, which are central learning objectives of the University. Having just received Senate endorsement in mid-January, the forum program is still being developed, but will probably include lectures, debates and the publication of learning resources.

  The forum is the brainchild of Stephen Wicary and Sean Yo, chair and treasurer of the College of Arts Student Union, respectively.

  "Moral maturity is a learning objective of education, but is often taken for granted," says Wicary, a third-year philosophy student. "It's not always discussed formally. The forum will attempt to have current issues discussed in a classroom setting and referred to the larger issues of academic and intellectual freedom."

  The forum will stir debate by delving beyond the day's news to the fundamental issues underlying them, such as the issues of freedom of expression stirred by the APEC and Dr. Nancy Olivieri cases.

  The project began with a letter last fall to president Mordechai Rozanski, asking for financial support for the APEC Protesters Legal Support Fund. Because this would have been inconsistent with institutional practice, the University was unable to fulfil this request, but Rozanski did meet with Wicary and Yo to discuss the matter further and encouraged a larger and sustained educational perspective. A commitment was also made to support a project that would raise awareness of issues of academic and intellectual freedom at U of G.

  "After that, Sean and I passed ideas back and forth," says Wicary, "and consulted with Brian Sullivan (associate vice-president for student affairs) and the Office of Student Affairs."

  The next step was ensuring representative bodies on campus were consulted, what Wicary calls "jumping through institutional hoops." Those hoops were cleared in short order. From the initial letter to Rozanski in October, the forum proposal was endorsed by the School of Literatures and Performance Studies in English, the College of Arts Dean's Council, the Vice-President Academic's Council, Student Senate Caucus, the Senate executive and the Board of Undergraduate Studies before it was finally presented to Senate Jan. 19 by Student Senate Caucus co-chair Kirsten Mercer. There, it received overwhelming support. The caucus is serving as organizational sponsor for the project, and the Senate Office is providing administrative assistance.

  The speed with which the forum has come to pass is a positive, says Prof. Alastair Summerlee, acting associate vice-president (academic). "This is an example of a member of the campus community coming up with a good idea - no matter whether faculty, staff or student - and that good idea being taken up by the institution at an institution-wide level."

  Sullivan agrees. "We might sometimes forget that 'learner-centred' includes faculty and staff and not only students," he says. "I think part of the reason this proposal moved so quickly is that people were ready to do something together, which is why you see this level of support coming from all corners of the campus."

  It's early days yet, with items "being formalized week by week" says Wicary, but a student-driven steering committee plans several components, including a public debate and a lecture series beginning this semester, a conference, publication of key materials and a large-scale colloquium featuring a presentation of student papers in the fall.

  "We hope to get started with a public debate some time after reading week," he says. "We are also hoping to have a presentation by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and we have been in touch to see whether Dr. Olivieri would like to come and speak at one event."

  For more information or to become involved in the forum, contact Wicary by e-mail at swicary@uoguelph.ca.