Students at Carleton University in Ottawa set up a “Free Speech Wall” on Monday in an attempt to prove that free speech was possible on the university campus.  The “wall” was a 1.2 x 1.8 metre (4 foot x 6 foot) wooden board covered with paper.  Felt markers were provided.

One of the students involved in erecting the wall stated; “Free speech is something you can’t monopolize for yourself, you have to give it to everyone else.”

It didn’t even last a day.  It was torn down that same night by a gay rights activist who called it an act of violence against gay rights.  (In actual fact, no anti-gay messages had appeared on the wall.)

The student who tore it down stated on Facebook that free speech is an “illusory concept” and declared that “not every opinion is valid, nor deserving of expression.”

“Only someone who had gone to university could write something so utterly stupid,” said Fred Litwin of Ottawa, creator of the blog Gay and Right.