I worry that people will get the wrong impression about Canadian universities from columns like this.  Certainly there are some persons (a few students as in every generation) with an unearned sense of moral superiority who want to impose extreme views on others.  But readers should be careful about overgeneralizing.  

It's a bit like making big claims about soccer after reading a few stories about hooligans.  The hooligans haven't really taken over, though they might be more common in some neighborhoods than others.  I've attended many meetings of Arts and Humanities faculty and I often come away impressed by the level of thoughtful debate, so unlike the slogans, one-sided exaggeration and abuse in many Globe comments.