The University of Western Ontario is facing a lawsuit after allegedly punishing a mature student for daring to ask a basic question: "What exactly does 'decolonization' mean when it comes to teaching math and chemistry?"

That's the "hate speech" that got Margaret Munn, a Scottish-born student and seasoned educator, labelled a threat to campus safety, dragged through a two-year bureaucratic nightmare, and nearly expelled from Western's Faculty of Education.

According to a legal claim backed by the Free Speech Union of Canada (FSUC), Munn's ordeal began in 2022, when she raised a question during an "Indigenous Education: Towards a Decolonizing Pedagogy" course. Her mild skepticism was met with disproportionate hostility. Within weeks, the faculty's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee declared that Munn had made the classroom "unsafe" and recommended expulsion for her alleged "hate speech."

Instead of expelling her outright, the school placed her on "conditional status" and forced her to jump through ever-changing hoops. At one point, her future teaching career was explicitly held hostage until she adopted the ideological worldview of her instructors.

Munn eventually overturned the disciplinary decisions through the Senate Review Board Academic, but not before enduring what her claim describes as psychological harassment, reputational damage, and endless administrative interference. She remained functionally under siege for the duration of her program, suspended and unsuspended, all while trying to meet course requirements with no institutional support.

The lawsuit accuses Western of violating her Charter-protected right to freedom of expression and academic freedom. The FSUC, which is funding the lawsuit, says this case is a chilling example of how universities have become ideological echo chambers where dissent is not just unwelcome — it's punished.

FSUC Executive Director and lawyer Lisa Bildy, who is representing Munn through her firm Libertas Law, says this case should serve as a warning. "Academic freedom and freedom of expression on campus are foundational to postsecondary institutions, if their purpose is to foster human flourishing, critical thinking, the search for truth and scientific understanding, and the production of tomorrow's thoughtful leaders," said Ms. Bildy. "They cannot become echo-chambers enforcing dogmatic worldviews on students on pain of the threat of expulsion and still advance their former ideals."

The full statement of claim is available here, and an in-depth feature on Munn's experience by journalist Jonathan Kay can be found in Quillette here.