Protesters crash controversial U of T prof's appearance

Protesters threw glitter, blew horns and tried to shout down University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson Friday as he spoke about free speech and political correctness at McMaster University.

“This was by far the most contentious event that I’ve been to,” Peterson said. “They did everything they could to shut it down.”

Peterson — who was invited to speak at McMaster — has sparked controversy by refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns, such as ze and zir, and by denouncing political correctness run amok in post secondary institutions.

Hadhy Ayaz, a third-year student at the university and director of Overcome the Gap McMaster which organized the event, said most of the crowd came to hear the professor speak but about 15-20 protesters crashed the room, blew air horns, played loud instruments and threw glitter onto Peterson.

“They were shouting slurs at Dr. Peterson,” Ayaz said. “We weren’t able to run the event at all as intended. It’s really disappointing.”

He said students had made a point of telling people they were welcome to protest peacefully outside. 

Peterson spoke for about half hour and then went outside to address students...